Federer, Mauresmo receive top seeds

New York -- The final tennis Grand Slam of the year kicks off at the Flushing Meadows on Monday. The United States Tennis Association has placed defending men’s champion Roger Federer and women’s world No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo as the top seeds.

The Swiss star, Federer has eight grand-slam titles to his credit. He has been crowned with the titles of the Australian Open and Wimbledon, earlier this year. The two-time defending champion from Switzerland is also the top-ranked player in the world.

Roger Federer will open the defense of his US Open crown by taking on Wang Yeu-Tzuoo of Taiwan, who is ranked 109th in the world. He is looking to become only the third man in the Open era, after John McEnroe and Ivan Lendl, to win the title three years in succession.

Rafael Nadal, the world No2 and French Open champion, is seeded second, while Croat Ivan Ljubicic and Argentinian David Nalbandian are third and fourth. American Andy Roddick is seeded ninth. Fresh off the title at Cincinnati, he won the US Open Series and will be playing for double prize money.

Frenchwoman Mauresmo will be aiming to win the title for the first time. The top-ranked women's player broke her career-long Grand Slam drought at the Australian Open and subsequently won the Wimbledon. Her best show at the U.S. Open was way back in 2002, when she managed to reach the top four.

French Open champion and Australian Open and Wimbledon finalist Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium is seeded second. The two Russians Maria Sharapova and Elena Dementieva have been seeded third and fourth respectively.

Scottish teenager Andy Murray has been seeded 17th after his spectacular performance in other tournaments which helped him climb to the 19th spot in the world rankings. 36-year-old American and former champion Andre Agassi will play his last career Open.

The reigning women’s champion, Kim Clijsters of Belgium, will miss the Open because of a lingering wrist injury