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Murray seeded third for Wimbledon

Phil Casey,Pa
Wednesday 17 June 2009 12:07 BST
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Andy Murray has been seeded third for Wimbledon, which gets under way at the All England Club on Monday.

Defending champion and world number one Rafael Nadal is the top seed, although the Spaniard's participation is not certain due to a knee injury.

Russia's Dinara Safina is top seed in the women's singles ahead of Serena Williams and defending champion Venus Williams.

Murray's seeding reflects his position as world number three and is a marked improvement on 12 months ago, when he was ranked 11th but only seeded 12th.

The 22-year-old reached the quarter-finals in 2008 before losing to eventual winner Nadal in straight sets, but is a genuine contender to become Britain's first winner of the men's singles since 1936.

The Scot won the AEGON Championships at Queen's Club last week without dropping a set and is in confident mood ahead of the year's third grand slam tournament.

The men's seedings are based on the current world rankings but are slightly adjusted to take into account grass-court performances in the last two years.

The only change in the top 10 sees world number eight Fernando Verdasco made seventh seed ahead of Gilles Simon, while Marat Safin and Ivo Karlovic are the biggest movers.

Safin, a surprise semi-finalist last year, is seeded 15th despite being ranked 23rd, while the big-serving Karlovic moves from 31st in the world to number 23 seed.

In the women's singles, the only deviation from the rankings sees former champion Maria Sharapova, ranked 59th in the world, made the 24th seed.

Sharapova, Wimbledon winner in 2004, has plunged down the rankings after nine months out with a shoulder injury but reached the semi-finals of the AEGON Classic in Birmingham last week.

List of top 16 seeds for 2009 Wimbledon championships:

Men

1. Rafael Nadal, Spain

2. Roger Federer Switzerland

3. Andy Murray, Britain

4. Novak Djokovic, Serbia

5. Juan Martin del Potro, Argentina

6. Andy Roddick, U.S.

7. Fernando Verdasco, Spain

8. Gilles Simon, France

9. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, France

10. Fernando Gonzalez, Chile

11. Marin Cilic, Croatia

12. Nikolay Davydenko, Russia

13. Robin Soderling, Sweden

14. Gael Monfils, France

15. Marat Safin, Russia

16. Tommy Robredo, Spain

Women

1. Dinara Safina, Russia

2. Serena Williams, U.S.

3. Venus Williams, U.S.

4. Elena Dementieva, Russia

5. Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia

6. Jelena Jankovic, Serbia

7. Vera Zvonareva, Russia

8. Victoria Azarenka, Belarus

9. Caroline Wozniacki, Denmark

10. Nadia Petrova, Russia

11. Agnieszka Radwanska, Poland

12. Marion Bartoli, France

13. Ana Ivanovic, Serbia

14. Dominika Cibulkova, Slovakia

15. Flavia Pennetta, Italy

16. Zheng Jie, China

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