Sydney: Amelie Mauresmo has slammed Australian Open officials for elevating Venus Williams to third in the tournament seedings despite her lower ranking.

Australian Open tournament director Paul McNamee announced world No. 11 Williams would be seeded behind Belgian pair Justine Henin-Hardenne and Kim Clijsters after her sister Serena pulled out injured.

As the world No. 4, Frenchwoman Mauresmo had expected to be elevated to third seed but lost the spot to Venus under a recommendation from the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA). Venus suffered a slide in the rankings after she missed the second half of last year through injury.

“I feel like I’m being punished because she was injured,” Mauresmo said. “It’s a strange feeling and one I don’t really understand. But it’s something I have to deal with.”

The Australian Open has traditionally chosen its seeds according to their world rankings but McNamee said they made an exception for Venus, who was runner-up to Serena last year.

Venus has not played a competitive match since losing to Serena in last year’s Wimbledon final. (Reuters)