Switzerland's Roger Federer and Justine Henin of Belgium, the world's top-ranked male and female tennis players, have drawn the number one seedings in the upcoming Australian Open.
There were no surprises in Thursday's release of the seedings for the season's first Grand Slam tournament. All of the world's top 32 women, and 30 of the top 32 men, are seeded according to their world rankings.
Behind Federer is Rafael Nadal of Spain, Serbia's Novak Djokovic, Nikolay Davydenko of Russia and Spain's David Ferrer. Andy Roddick of the United States is seeded sixth, while compatriot James Blake takes the 12th seed. Blake is benefitting from the withdrawal of Germany's Tommy Haas due to injury.
Argentina's Guillermo Canas has also withdrawn from the tournament because of injury.
On the women's side, Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia is seeded second, followed by Serbia's Jelena Jankovic her compatriot Ana Ivanovic, and Russian star Maria Sharapova.
Defending champion Serena Williams of the United States takes the seventh seed, followed immediately by her older sister Venus. The draw for the Australian Open will be made on Friday.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
