Serena Williams has been seeded 28th as she attempts to win the U.S. Open for a fourth time.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Serena Williams is seeded 28th for next week's U.S. Open at Flushing Meadows
- Caroline Wozniacki is the top seed with Vera Zvonareva seeded second
- Defending champion Kim Clijsters will miss the tournament through injury
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(CNN) -- Tournament favorite Serena Williams has been seeded 28th by the United States Tennis Association (USTA) for next week's final grand slam, the U.S. Open, at Flushing Meadows.
Three-times champion Williams is starting to regain her form after a year plagued by injury and illness -- and goes into the New York tournament on the back of victories in Toronto and California.
Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki, the runner-up in 2009, is the number one seed for the second successive year as she bids to win her first grand slam title.
Vera Zvonareva of Russia, last year's beaten U.S. Open and Wimbledon finalist, is seeded second while 2006 champion Maria Sharapova is the third seed.
Other notable seeds are Wimbledon champion Petras Kvitova (5), French Open champion Li Na (6) and 2010 Roand Garros winner Francesca Schiavone (7).
Holder Kim Clijsters, who beat Wozniacki and Zvonareva in the last two finals, will be absent through injury, which means only four previous winners; Serena and Venus Williams, Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova will be competing in this year's tournament.
Speaking about the decisicion to seed Serena Williams according to her current world ranking, tournament director Jim Curley told the official U.S. Open website: "After careful deliberation regarding Serena Williams, we decided to maintain the objective criteria in place to determine the women's singles seeds."
The men's singles seedings will be revealed on Wednesday, with the draw for both singles section decided in Thursday.
Women's seeds for U.S. Open:
1. Caroline Wozniacki
2. Vera Zvonareva
3. Maria Sharapova
4. Victoria Azarenka
5. Petra Kvitova
6. Li Na
7. Francesca Schiavone
8. Marion Bartoli
9. Samantha Stosur
10. Andrea Petkovic
11. Jelena Jankovic
12. Agnieszka Radwanska
13. Shuai Peng
14. Dominika Cibulkova
15. Svetlana Kuznetsova
16. Ana Ivanovic
17. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
18. Roberta Vinci
19. Julia Goerges
20. Yanina Wickmayer
21. Daniela Hantuchova
22. Sabine Lisicki
23. Shahar Peer
24. Nadia Petrova
25. Maria Kirilenko
26. Flavia Pennetta
27. Lucie Safarova
28. Serena Williams
29. Jarmila Gajdosova
30. Anabel Medina Garrigues
31. Kaia Kanepi
32. Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez
