Serena Williams of the U.S.A, fourth seed, shows off her trophy ater she defeated Serbia's Jelena Jankovic, second seed, in the women's final match at the U.S. Open tennis championship at the U.S. National Tennis Center on September 7, 2008 in Flushing Meadows, New York. Williams won 6-4, 7-5. (UPI Photo/Monika Graff) |
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Williams will be going for her 14th Grand Slam title. She won the U.S. Open in 1999, 2002 and 2008. She is ranked 29th in the world but is 16-3, with two tournament championships, since returning from a near-yearlong layoff due to injury.
Two-time defending champion Kim Clijsters, ranked No. 3, is out of the 12011 tournament because of an abdominal injury.
The USTA isn't bound to go directly along rankings for its seedings. While No. 2-ranked Vera Zvonareva is seeded second, Maria Sharapova, who just rose to No. 4 in the rankings, is seeded third and third-ranked Victoria Azarenka is fourth.
Petra Kvitova is seeded fifth and Li Na is sixth, Francesca Schiavone is seventh and Marion Bartoli was seeded eighth in completing the top tier.
The U.S. Open begins Monday and the women's singles final is scheduled for Sept. 10. The tournament draw is later this week.