Serena Seeded Number One at U.S. Open

The USTA has announced that world number one and two-time defending U.S. Open champion Serena Williams has been named the top seed in the women’s singles draw at the 2014 U.S. Open. The 2014 U.S. Open will be played Aug. 25-Sept. 8 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, N.Y. The U.S. Open Women’s Singles Championship is presented by JPMorgan Chase. This marks the third time that Serena has been the top seed at the Open. She won the title on both prior occasions (2002 and 2013). Following Williams will be the number two seed Simona Halep of Romania, a 2014 French Open finalist; number three Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, who won her second Wimbledon title this summer; and number four Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland. The reigning French Open and 2006 U.S. Open champion Maria Sharapova is seeded fifth. World number two Li Na of China withdrew from the U.S. Open in July with a knee injury.

Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, who has reached the U.S. Open women’s final each of the last two years, is seeded 16th. Two-time U.S. Open champion Venus Williams is seeded 19th, 2004 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia is seeded 20th, and 2011 champion Samantha Stosur is seeded 24th.

Last year, Serena won her fifth U.S. Open singles title, tying Steffi Graf for second most in the Open Era, trailing only Chris Evert’s six. It was also Serena's 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).

Number 21 Sloane Stephens and 27 Madison Keys join the Williams Sisters as seeded American players.

The U.S. Open followed the WTA Women's Singles Rankings released Monday to determine the seeds. This is the 14th consecutive year that the U.S. Open seeded 32 players in both singles events. The singles draws for the 2014 U.S. Open will be revealed live during an official draw ceremony on Aug. 21 at noon at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Defending U.S. Open champion Serena will make an appearance at the event.

2014 U.S. 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