The USTA announced that world No. 1 and two-time defending US Open champion Serena Williams has been named the top seed in women’s singles at the 2014 US Open. The 2014 US Open will be played Aug. 25 – Sept. 8 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing.
This is the third time that Serena Williams has been the No. 1 seed at the US Open. She won the title on both prior occasions (2002 and 2013). Following Williams will be No. 2 seed Simona Halep, of Romania, a 2014 French Open finalist; No. 3 Petra Kvitova, of the Czech Republic, who won her second Wimbledon title this summer; and No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska, of Poland. The reigning French Open and 2006 US Open champion Maria Sharapova is seeded fifth.
World No. 2 Li Na, of China, withdrew from the US Open in July with a knee injury.
Victoria Azarenka, of Belarus, who has reached the US Open women’s final each of the last two years, is seeded No. 16. Two-time US Open champion Venus Williams is seeded No. 19, 2004 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, of Russia, is seeded 20th, and 2011 champion Samantha Stosur is seeded 24th.
Last year, Serena Williams won her fifth US Open singles title, tying Steffi Graf for second most in the Open Era, trailing only Chris Evert’s six. It was also Williams’ 17th Grand Slam singles title, which is sixth on the all-time list and fourth in the Open Era (since 1968), trailing Graf (22), Evert and Martina Navratilova (18 each).
No. 21 Sloane Stephens and No. 27 Madison Keys join the Williams sisters as seeded American players.
The US Open followed the WTA rankings released Monday to determine the women’s singles seeds. This is the 14th consecutive year that the US Open seeded 32 players in both singles events.
2014 US Open Women’s Singles Seeds
1. Serena Williams, United States
2. Simona Halep, Romania
3. Petra Kvitova, Czech Republic
4. Agnieszka Radwanska, Poland
5. Maria Sharapova, Russia
6. Angelique Kerber, Germany
7. Eugenie Bouchard, Canada
8. Ana Ivanovic, Serbia
9. Jelena Jankovic, Serbia
10. Caroline Wozniacki, Denmark
11. Flavia Pennetta, Italy
12. Dominika Cibulkova, Slovakia
13. Sara Errani, Italy
14. Lucie Safarova, Czech Republic
15. Carla Suarez Navarro, Spain
16. Victoria Azarenka, Belarus
17. Ekaterina Makarova, Russia
18. Andrea Petkovic, Germany
19. Venus Williams, United States
20. Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia
21. Sloane Stephens, United States
22. Alize Cornet, France
23. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Russia
24. Samantha Stosur, Australia
25. Garbine Muguruza, Spain
26. Sabine Lisicki, Germany
27. Madison Keys, United States
28. Roberta Vinci, Italy
29. Casey Dellacqua, Australia
30. Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, Czech Republic
31. Kurumi Nara, Japan
32. Shuai Zhang, China
