The United States Tennis Association on Wednesday announced that two-time US Open champion Andre Agassi of the US and World No 1 Kim Clijsters of Belgium will be seeded No 1 at the 2003 US Open in the men's and women's singles, respectively.
According to a press release, the 2003 US Open will be played at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing, New York, from August 25 to September 7.
Agassi, the reigning Australian Open champion and current World No 1, will be followed by reigning Wimbledon champion Roger Federer of Switzerland, reigning French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain, and Andy Roddick of the US.
Clijsters, a two-time Grand Slam runner-up, will be followed by compatriot and reigning French Open champion Justine Henin-Hardenne, Lindsay Davenport and Venus Williams.
Clijsters and Henin-Hardenne are the first women ever from the same country other than the US to be seeded Nos 1 and 2 at the US Open.
For 2003, the US Open organisers continued the practice of following the ATP Entry System and WTA Tour rankings to determine the men's and women's singles seeds. This is the third consecutive year that the US Open has seeded 32 players in both singles events.
Agassi (33) the oldest player to be ranked No 1 in the ATP Entry System, enters the US Open as the top seed for the third time in his career (1995, 2000). He won his eighth Grand Slam singles title at the Australian Open in January.
Agassi enjoys a 62-15 record at the US Open and has reached the singles final five times since 1990. Agassi won the first of his two US Open titles as an unseeded player in 1994 and was runner-up last year to Pete Sampras.
Clijsters (20) took over the No 1 spot on the WTA Tour rankings on August 11 after winning her tour-leading sixth singles title of the year. Clijsters reached her second French Open final in June and was a
Semi-finalist at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon this year.
She enjoys a 10-4 record in four appearances at the US Open with her best showing in 2001 when she reached the quarterfinals.
Clijsters ended 2002 ranked No 4 after defeating Serena Williams in the final of the WTA Tour season-ending championships.
MEN
1. Andre Agassi, United States
2. Roger Federer, Switzerland
3. Juan Carlos Ferrero, Spain
4. Andy Roddick, United States
5. Guillermo Coria, Argentina
6. Lleyton Hewitt, Australia
7. Carlos Moya, Spain
8. Rainer Schuettler, Germany
9. Sebastien Grosjean, France
10. Jiri Novak, Czech Republic
11. Paradorn Srichaphan, Thailand
12. Sjeng Schalken, Netherlands
13. David Nalbandian, Argentina
14. Gustavo Kuerten, Brazil
15. Fernando Gonzalez, Chile
16. Martin Verkerk, Netherlands
17. Tommy Robredo, Spain
18. Max Mirnyi, Belarus
19. Agustin Calleri, Argentina
20. Mark Philippoussis, Australia
21. Felix Mantilla, Spain
22. Younes El Aynaoui, Morocco
23. Wayne Ferreira, South Africa
24. Mardy Fish, United States
25. Albert Costa, Spain
26. Marat Safin, Russia
27. Mariano Zabaleta, Argentina
28. Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Russia
29. Feliciano Lopez, Spain
30. Gaston Gaudio, Argentina
31. Arnaud Clement, France
32. Vincent Spadea, United States
WOMEN
1. Kim Clijsters, Belgium
2. Justine Henin-Hardenne, Belgium
3. Lindsay Davenport, United States
4. Venus Williams, United States
5. Amelie Mauresmo, France
6. Jennifer Capriati, United States
7. Anastasia Myskina, Russia
8. Chanda Rubin, United States
9. Daniela Hantuchova, Slovakia
10. Magdalena Maleeva, Bulgaria
11. Elena Dementieva, Russia
12. Conchita Martinez, Spain
13. Vera Zvonareva, Russia
14. Amanda Coetzer, South Africa
15. Ai Sugiyama, Japan
16. Elena Bovina, Russia
17. Meghann Shaughnessy, United States
18. Patty Schnyder, Switzerland
19. Nadia Petrova, Russia
20. Silvia Farina-Elia, Italy
21. Anna Pistolesi, Israel
22. Jelena Dokic, Yugoslavia
23. Nathalie Dechy, France
24. Paola Suarez, Argentina
25. Eleni Daniilidou, Greece
26. Lina Krasnoroutskaya, Russia
27. Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia
28. Lisa Raymond, United States
29. Francesca Schiavone, Italy
30. Magui Serna, Spain
31. Alexandra Stevenson, United States
32. Marie-Gaianeh Mikaelian, Switzerland
