MELBOURNE, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova were made the No. 1 seeds for the 2007 Australian Open, which begins next week in Melbourne.
Federer will be looking for his third Australian Open title in four years. He is coming off one of his best years in tennis and is far and away the No. 1 rated men's tennis player.
Sharapova is ranked No. 2 in the world among women players, was given the top seed when No. 1-ranked Justine Henin-Hardenne withdrew from the Australian Open for personal reasons.
Defending Australian Open champion Amelie Mauresmo was installed as the No. 2 women's seed followed by Svetlana Kuznetsova, Kim Clijsters and Nadia Petrova.
The No. 2 men's seed is Rafael Nadal with Nikolay Davydenko third, Ivan Ljubicic fourth and James Blake seeded fifth.
Officials will make the tournament singles draw Friday. They said the field includes the top 20 ranked men in the world and 18 of the top 20 ranked women.
