Sports
11:01, 07-Aug-2018
Serena Williams, Sharapova and Murray among unseeded stars for Cincinnati Masters
Updated
10:30, 10-Aug-2018
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Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Andy Murray are unseeded for next week's WTA and ATP Cincinnati Masters event, the last major tuneup for the US Open, which starts August 27.
Novak Djokovic and Venus Williams are also among the Grand Slam champions who missed out on a first-round bye in the seedings announced on Monday.
The top seedings followed the latest ATP and WTA rankings with world number ones Rafael Nadal of Spain and Simona Halep of Romania leading the 16 seeds in each 56-player field, the top eight of whom receive first-round byes.
Serena Williams says she is suffering from "postpartum emotions" as the 23-time Grand Slam winner struggles to deal with juggling family life and tennis./VCG Photo
Serena Williams says she is suffering from "postpartum emotions" as the 23-time Grand Slam winner struggles to deal with juggling family life and tennis./VCG Photo
Serena Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam champion needing one more major victory to match Margaret Court's all-time record, will try to extend her streak of years with a major title to seven by winning the US Open.
Two-time Cincinnati champion Serena lost the Wimbledon final to Angelique Kerber last month, the 36-year-old American's first Grand Slam final since an extended absence after giving birth to a baby daughter last September.
Russia's Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam champion, reached the French Open quarter-finals but was a first-round loser at Wimbledon.
Reigning Wimbledon champion Djokovic, a 13-time Grand Slam champion, was named the 10th seed while Britain's Murray, a three-time Grand Slam champion, will be unseeded in only his fourth start since an 11-month absence with a right hip injury.
Djokovic has reached the Cincinnati final five times without ever taking home the winner's trophy.
Behind 17-time Grand Slam winner Nadal in the men's seedings are 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer, Germany's Alexander Zverev fresh off defending a title in Washington, Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro and defending Cincinnati champion Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria.
On the women's side after Halep were Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki, American Sloane Stephens, Kerber, Ukraine's Elina Svitolina, France's Caroline Garcia and defending champion Garbine Muguruza of Spain.
Source(s): AFP