Paris: Serena and Venus Williams were placed on a French Open semi-final collision course after they were seeded second and fourth, respectively, for the second Grand Slam of the season which gets underway at Roland Garros here Monday.
Despite their recent injury setbacks, the American sisters have benefited from having protected rankings and could now meet in the last four.
Defending champion Justine Henin-Hardenne is top seed although the Belgian world number one has not played for six weeks due to a virus.
Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo, who has won the last two clay court warm-up events in Berlin and Rome, is seeded third and could take on Henin-Hardenne in the semi-finals.
World number one and Wimbledon and Australian Open champion Roger Federer was handed the top seed position in the men’s draw with America’s Andy Roddick at two.
Defending champion Juan Carlos Ferrero, who has not played for a month because of a wrist injury, is the fourth seed behind Guillermo Coria of Argentina. Former champions Carlos Moya of Spain and Andre Agassi of the US are fifth and sixth.
Top ten seeds
MEN: 1. Roger Federer (Sui) 2. Andy Roddick (US) 3. Guillermo Coria (Arg) 4. Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spa) 5. Carlos Moya (Esp) 6. Andre Agassi (US) 7. Rainer Schuettler (Ger) 8. David Nalbandian (Arg) 9. Tim Henman (GBR) 10. Sibastien Grosjean (Fra).
WOMEN: 1. Justine Henin-Hardenne (Bel) 2. Serena Williams (US) 3. Amilie Mauresmo (Fra) 4. Venus Williams (US) 5. Lindsay Davenport (US) 6. Anastasia Myskina (Rus) 7. Jennifer Capriati (US) 8. Nadia Petrova (Rus) 9. Elena Dementieva (Rus) 10. Vera Zvonareva (Rus). (AFP)
