Federer, Sharapova top seedings

The respective world number ones Roger Federer [Images] and Maria Sharapova [Images] were named as top seeds for next week's US Open on Tuesday after the United States Tennis Association followed the official rankings.

Wimbledon champion Federer, who has won nine titles this year, will return to New York as a strong favourite to defend the US Open crown he won 12 months ago by beating Australian Lleyton Hewitt [Images] in the final.

The French Open champion Rafael Nadal [Images] of Spain was seeded second ahead of Hewitt, while 2003 champion Andy Roddick [Images] was seeded fourth and Russia's [Images] Marat Safin [Images] fifth.

After becoming the first Russian woman to top the rankings earlier this week, Sharapova was seeded ahead of American Lindsay Davenport [Images], the runner-up at the Australian Open and Wimbledon this year.

Amelie Mauresmo of France [Images] was seeded three with Belgium's Kim Clijsters [Images] at number four, one place ahead of defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia.

Men's singles seeds:		Women's singles seeds:
1	Roger Federer (Switzerland [Images])	1	Maria Sharapova (Russia)
2	Rafael Nadal (Spain)	2	Lindsay Davenport (United States)
3	Lleyton Hewitt (Australia)	3	Amelie Mauresmo (France)
4	Andy Roddick (United States)	4	Kim Clijsters (Belgium)
5	Marat Safin (Russia)	5	Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia)
6	Nikolay Davydenko (Russia)	6	Elena Dementieva (Russia)
7	Andre Agassi [Images] (United States)	7	Justine Henin-Hardenne (Belgium)
8	Guillermo Coria (Argentina)	8	Serena Williams [Images] (United States)
9	Gaston Gaudio (Argentina)	9	Nadia Petrova (Russia)
10	Mariano Puerta (Argentina)	10	Venus Williams [Images] (United States)
11	David Nalbandian (Argentina)	11	Patty Schnyder (Switzerland)
12	Tim Henman (Great Britain)	12	Mary Pierce (France)
13	Richard Gasquet (France)	13	Anastasia Myskina [Images] (Russia)
14	Thomas Johansson (Sweden)	14	Alicia Molik [Images] (Australia)
15	Dominik Hrbaty (Slovakia)	15	Nathalie Dechy (France)
16	Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic)	16	Elena Bovina (Russia)
17	David Ferrer (Spain)	17	Jelena Jankovic (Serbia)
18	Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia)	18	Ana Ivanovic (Serbia)
19	Tommy Robredo (Spain)	19	Vera Zvonareva (Russia)
20	Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain)	20	Elena Likhovtseva (Russia)
21	Fernando Gonzalez (Chile)	21	Daniela Hantuchova [Images] (Slovakia)
22	Mario Ancic (Croatia)	22	Dinara Safina (Russia)
23	Jiri Novak (Czech Republic)	23	Silvia Farina Elia (Italy [Images])
24	Mikhail Youzhny (Russia)	24	Tatiana Golovin [Images] (France)
25	Taylor Dent (United States)	25	Shinobu Asagoe (Japan [Images])
26	Feliciano Lopez (Spain)	26	Francesca Schiavone (Italy)
27	Olivier Rochus (Belgium)	27	Nicole Vaidisova (Czech Republic)
28	Greg Rusedski [Images] (Great Britain)	28	Gisela Dulko (Argentina)
29	Tommy Haas (Germany [Images])	29	Flavia Pennetta (Italy)
30	Max Mirnyi (Belarus)	30	Anna Chakvetadze [Images] (Russia)
31	Carlos Moya [Images] (Spain)	31	Ai Sugiyama (Japan)
32	Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic)	32	Anna-Lena Groenefeld (Germany)

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