Novak Djokovic and Caroline Wozniacki have been given top seeds at the Australian Open where organizers are relying on current rankings. Meanwhile, six Russian women found their names in the top 32.
Denmark’s world number one, Caroline Wozniacki, leads the women’s field ahead of the Czech Republic’s Petra Kvitova and Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.
Maria Sharapova has been seeded fourth for the first Grand Slam of the season, which gets underway in Melbourne on January 16. Vera Zvonareva, Russia’s second-highest ranked woman, is in seventh, and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was 16th with Svetlana Kuznetsova – 19th, Maria Kirilenko – 28th and Nadezhda Petrova on 30th.
Defending champion Kim Clijsters of Belgium is seeded 12th, while Li Na, who made history at Melbourne Park by becoming the first Chinese woman to reach a Grand Slam final, is fifth.
Meanwhile, over in the men’s draw, world number one Novak Djokovic, who beat Andy Murray in last year’s final, is the top seed ahead of Spain’s Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer of Switzerland. Murray has been seeded fourth, while for the first time since the mid 1990s no Russian player was included in the list.
The draw will take place in Melbourne on Thursday, January 12.