Tennis story by Vinnie Mitchell, Fri, 13 Jan 2006 01:36:00 GMT


MELBOURNE, Australia - Roger Federer and Lindsay Davenport are the top seeds at the Australian Open, which gets underway from Monday. This season's first Grand Slam tournament had no surprises as far as seedings were concerned, with the organizers deciding to go by the rankings.

This means that World No 3 Andy Roddick is seeded second since Rafael Nadal had to withdraw from the Open. Home boy Lleyton Hewitt is ranked three and could face Roger Federer in the semi finals.

The Swiss ace is the hot favorite to win the title. David Nalbandian and Nikolay Davydenko are seeded fourth and fifth respectively. The Open has been hit with injuries as defending champion Marat Safin is out with a knee problem and crowd favorite Andre Agassi has not recovered from an ankle injury. In the women's section, Lindsay Davenport is seeded No. 1, followed by U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters and Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo at No. 3.

Russian Maria Sharapova is seeded fourth and Mary Pierce is the fifth seed. Barring any late withdrawals, all of the women's top ten seeds are expected to play here. David Nalbandian was hit with a virus and has been advised not to play until Saturday, but there is every chance that he will compete at the Open, "He just rang me this morning to say he's been to see the doctor and been advised that he shouldn't play until Saturday at the earliest," said the Open director Colin Stubs.

Meanwhile, Roger Federer is all geared up for the tournament, "I try not to move away too much from my game plan because I don't want to mess myself up in my head too much before such a big event," he said adding that he had made some changes to his game from the last year.

The list of top ten seeds in the men's and women's draw is as follows

Women's seedings:
1. Lindsay Davenport (US)
2. Kim Clijsters (Bel)
3. Amelie Mauresmo (Fra)
4. Maria Sharapova (Rus)
5. Mary Pierce (Fra)
6. Nadia Petrova (Rus)
7. Patty Schnyder (Swi)
8. Justine Henin-Hardenne (Bel)
9. Elena Dementieva (Rus)
10. Venus Williams (US)
Men's seedings:
1. Roger Federer (Swi)
2. Andy Roddick (US)
3. Lleyton Hewitt (Aus)
4. David Nalbandian (Arg)
5. Nikolay Davydenko (Rus)
6. Guillermo Coria (Arg)
7. Ivan Ljubicic (Cro)
8. Gaston Gaudio (Arg)
9. Fernando Gonzalez (Chi)
10. Thomas Johansson (Swe)

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