No surprises among U.S. Open seeds :WagerWeb Entertainment

No surprises among U.S. Open seeds

25 August 2009 111 views No Comment

Roger Federer, the defending champ of the U.S. Open and who has won the past two Grand Slams this year, is the No. 1 seed for the tournament that begins on Monday.

The five-time winner of this event is followed by Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and 2003 champion Andy Roddick. The 2006 Australian Open was the last time Federer and Nadal were not seeded No. 1 and No. 2 in some order, but since the Spaniard is not No. 4, he and Federer can’t meet until the final.

Federer is coming off a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Novak Djokovic for the Cincinnati Masters title. It was the Swiss star’s first championship since his twin girls were born last month. Djokovic hadn’t lost a set in the tournament before the final.

“That’s the special part, especially winning for the first time as a dad,” Federer said. “It gets me going emotionally a little bit, because I know it’s been a wonderful summer.”

Djokovic had beaten Federer the last two times they had met. In the semis, Federer downed Britain’s Andy Murray, who had beaten him the last four times they had met. Federer dominated Murray without facing a break point. So it appears Federer is peaking, and he is the WagerWeb.com favorite for the year’s final major.

Murray, however, does have the best hard-court record of any player in the past year.

No. 1 for the women is Dinara Safina, who still has yet to win a major in her career. But because the United States Tennis Association followed the ATP and WTA rankings, Safina is seeded ahead of second-ranked Serena Williams, the defending champ here and current Wimbledon champ. Safina is 0-3 in Grand Slam tournament finals, while Williams has won 11 major championships.

Serena is 18-1 in major tournaments this year and just 20-10 in non-Slams.

Two-time U.S. Open winner Venus Williams is seeded No. 3, followed by Elena Dementieva and Jelena Jankovic.