Federer & Sharapova head seedings

Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova

Defending champion Roger Federer and new women's number one Maria Sharapova have been named as the top seeds for next week's US Open.

French Open champion Rafael Nadal is the number two seed on the men's side, followed by Australia's Lleyton Hewitt and America's Andy Roddick.

Sharapova is followed by Lindsay Davenport, Amelie Mauresmo of France and Kim Clijsters of Belgium.

Tim Henman is the men's 12th seed, while Greg Rusedski is 28th.

The draw takes place in New York on Wednesday at 1600 BST.

As expected, the seedings are in line with the latest world rankings.

Federer will be a strong favourite, having won nine ATP titles this season and 28 straight matches on hard courts.

Sharapova makes number one spot

Sharapova became the first Russian woman to top the overall rankings when she took over from Davenport this week.

She has won six titles in the last 12 months in addition to her 2004 Wimbledon success.

The US Open draw will be held on 24 August and the tournament begins on 29 August.

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US Open seeds (top 10):

Women
1 Maria Sharapova (RUS)
2 Lindsay Davenport (USA)
3 Amelie Mauresmo (FRA)
4 Kim Clijsters (BEL)
5 Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS)
6 Elena Dementieva (RUS)
7 Justine Henin-Hardenne (BEL)
8 Serena Williams (USA)
9 Nadia Petrova (RUS)
10 Venus Williams (USA)

Men
1 Roger Federer (SUI)
2 Rafael Nadal (ESP)
3 Lleyton Hewitt (AUS)
4 Andy Roddick (USA)
5 Marat Safin (RUS)
6 Nikolay Davydenko (RUS)
7 Andre Agassi (USA)
8 Guillermo Coria (ARG)
9 Gaston Gaudio (ARG)
10 Mariano Puerta (ARG)