Copyright © 2015. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.

The USTA announced that world No. 1 and three-time defending US Open champion Serena Williams has been named the top seed in women’s singles at the 2015 US Open. The 2015 US Open will be played Aug. 31 – Sept. 13 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y. The US Open Women’s Singles Championship is presented by J.P. Morgan.

This is the fourth time that Serena Williams has been the No. 1 seed at the US Open.  She won the title on all prior occasions (2002, 2013, and 2014).  Following Williams will be No. 2 seed Simona Halep, of Romania, a 2014 French Open finalist; No. 3 and 2006 US Open champion Maria Sharapova, of Russia; No. 4 and 2014 US Open finalist Caroline Wozniacki, of Denmark; No. 5 Petra Kvitova, of the Czech Republic, who won Wimbledon in 2011 and 2014; and No. 6 Lucie Safarova, of the Czech Republic, this year’s French Open finalist.

Victoria Azarenka, of Belarus, who reached the US Open women’s final in 2012 and 2013, is seeded No. 20. Two-time US Open champion Venus Williams is seeded No. 23; 2011 champion Samantha Stosur is seeded 22nd; and 2004 US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, of Russia, is seeded 30th.

Last year, Serena Williams won her sixth US Open crown, tying her with Chris Evert for the most US Open women’s singles titles in the Open Era.

This year, Williams is also going for the calendar Grand Slam at the US Open, last won in 1988 by Steffi Graf. Williams won her 21st Grand Slam singles title at Wimbledon this summer, which ranks third all-time, just one behind Graf (an Open-era record of 22) and Margaret Court (24 all-time).
No. 19 Madison Keys and No. 29 Sloane Stephens join the Williams sisters as seeded American players.

The US Open followed the WTA rankings released Monday to determine the women’s singles seeds. This is the 15th consecutive year that the US Open seeded 32 players in both singles events.

2015 US Open Women’s Singles Seeds
1.    Serena Williams, United States
2.    Simona Halep, Romania
3.    Maria Sharapova, Russia
4.    Caroline Wozniacki, Denmark
5.    Petra Kvitova, Czech Republic
6.    Lucie Safarova, Czech Republic
7.    Ana Ivanovic, Serbia
8.    Karolina Pliskova, Czech Republic
9.    Garbiñe Muguruza, Spain
10.  Carla Suarez Navarro, Spain
11.  Angelique Kerber, Germany
12.  Belinda Bencic, Switzerland
13.  Ekaterina Makarova, Russia
14.  Timea Bacsinszky, Switzerland
15.  Agnieszka Radwanska, Poland
16.  Sara Errani, Italy
17.  Elina Svitolina, Ukraine
18.  Andrea Petkovic, Germany
19.  Madison Keys, United States
20.  Victoria Azarenka, Belarus
21.  Jelena Jankovic, Serbia
22.  Samantha Stosur, Australia
23.  Venus Williams, United States
24.  Sabine Lisicki, Germany
25.  Eugenie Bouchard, Canada
26.  Flavia Pennetta, Italy
27.  Alizé Cornet, France
28.  Irina-Camelia Begu, Romania
29.  Sloane Stephens, United States
30.  Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia
31.  Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Russia
32.  Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, Slovakia

Copyright © 2015. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.