| Advertisement |
MELBOURNE, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, going for a third consecutive Australian Open championship, on Monday was announced as the top seed for the 2013 tournament. It is little surprise that Djokovic was made the No. 1 seed, with the top ranking and 2012 and 2011 men's singles titles in his favor. He defeated Rafael Nadal in five sets last January in the 2012 final.
Advertisement
Roger Federer, who owns four Australian Open titles, is the second seed and Andy Murray, a two-time tournament runner-up, is third.
The seedings for the 2013 men's singles basically follow the ATP rankings. However, world No. 4-ranked Rafael Nadal last month withdrew from the Australian Open, citing recovery from a stomach virus. He hasn't played an ATP event since losing in the second round at Wimbledon last year.
That leaves the No. 4 seed in Melbourne to world No. 5 David Ferrer.
Tomas Berdych was seeded fifth followed by, in order, Juan Martin del Potro, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Janko Tipsarevic. Each are seeded one spot higher than their rankings.
The second eight -- seeds 9-16 -- are: Richard Gasquet, Nicolas Almagro, Juan Monaco, John Isner, Marin Cilic, Milos Raonic, Gilles Simon and Stanislas Wawrinka.
The 2013 Australian Open runs from Jan. 14-27.
