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Federer, Henin named top seeds for US Open

NEW YORK: World number ones Roger Federer and Justine Henin were named by the US Tennis Association as top seeds for the US Open here on Monday, one week before the start of the year’s last Grand Slam tournament. Federer, who will seek his 12th Slam title and Open-era record fourth US Open crown in a row, is chasing the all-time Slam singles record of 14 titles held by US legend Pete Sampras, who won the last of his Slams here in 2002.

Reigning US and Australian Open and Wimbledon champion Federer will find out his first opponent in Wednesday’s draw. This marks the fourth year in a row that the Swiss star will be the men’s top seed at the US Open. Spain’s Rafael Nadal, who beat Federer in the Roland Garros final and made an epic fight before falling in the Wimbledon final, will be the second seed followed in ranking order by Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, Russian Nikolay Davydenko and US veterans Andy Roddick and James Blake. Henin, the 2003 US Open champion, is followed by Russian second seed and defending champion Maria Sharapova, Serbian third seed Jelena Jankovic, Russian fourth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 2004 US Open winner, and Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic. Federer, 26, has won five titles this year including the 50th of his career on Sunday at the ATP Cincinnati Masters. Henin, 25, has won six titles this year, including the 35th of her career on Sunday in Toronto. She lost last year’s US Open final to Sharapova but captured her sixth career Slam at May’s French Open, her fourth Roland Garros title. Both top seeds could win a $1 million bonus by capturing the US Open title after performing the best in a series of North American hardcourt tuneup events ahead of the tournament. afp

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