Nadal, Wozniacki top seeds at Australian Open

World No.1 Rafael Nadal and Caroline Wozniacki will begin their Australian Open campaign as the top seeds in the men's singles and women's singles respectively.

According to the seedings released on Thursday, the reigning champion and 16-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer will lead the other half of the main draw as the second seed in the men's singles.

Serbia's World No. 3 Novak Djokovic has been seeded third followed by Swedish Robin Soderling and British top player Andy Murray on the fourth and fifth position.

Defending women's singles champion Serena Williams, ranked fourth in the world, announced her withdrawal from the tournament due to a foot surgery, her sister Venus Williams, therefore, was seeded fourth as the world's fifth-ranked women's singles player.

Russia's world No. 2 Vera Zvonareva will be the second seed while Belgian Kim Clijsters will vie for a consecutive Grand Slam title after crowning at the US Open last season.

Kim's compatriot, last year's runner-up Justine Henin will come as the 11th seed. The former world No. 1 is now ranked 13th in the world after coming back from a retirement in January, 2010.

China's top player Li Na, who achieved her personal best by reaching the semifinals last year, has been seeded ninth while the other Chinese semifinalist Zheng Jie gave up this year's tournament in order to recover from a wrist surgery.

The official draw for Australian Open 2011 will take place at Melbourne Park on Friday while the competition will kicks-off on Monday.

Men's seeds for the 2011 Australian Open
1. Rafael Nadal (Spain)
2. Roger Federer (Switzerland)
3. Novak Djokovic (Serbia)
4. Robin Soderling (Sweden)
5. Andy Murray (Britain)
6. Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic)
7. David Ferrer (Spain)
8. Andy Roddick (US)
9. Fernando Verdasco (Spain)
10. Mikhail Youzhny (Russia)
11. Jurgen Melzer (Austria)
12. Gael Monfils (France)
13. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France)
14. Nicolas Almagro (Spain)
15. Marin Cilic (Croatia)
16. Mardy Fish (US)
17. Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia)
18. Sam Querrey (US)
19. Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland)
20. John Isner (US)
21. Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus)
22. Michael Llodra (France)
23. Nikolay Davydenko (Russia)
24. Ernests Gulbis (Latvia)
25. Albert Montanes (Spain)
26. Juan Monaco (Argentina)
27. David Nalbandian (Argentina)
28. Richard Gasquet (France)
29. Viktor Troicki (Serbia)
30. Thomaz Bellucci (Brazil)
31. Feliciano Lopez (Spain)
32. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain)

Women's seeds:

1. Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark)
2. Vera Zvonareva (Russia)
3. Kim Clijsters (Belgium)
4. Venus Williams (US)
5. Samantha Stosur (Australia)
6. Francesca Schiavone (Italy)
7. Jelena Jankovic (Serbia)
8. Victoria Azarenka (Belarus)
9. Li Na (China)
10. Shahar Peer (Israel)
11. Justine Henin (Belgium)
12. Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland)
13. Nadia Petrova (Russia)
14. Maria Sharapova (Russia)
15. Marion Bartoli (France)
16. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia)
17. Aravane Rezai (France)
18. Maria Kirilenko (Russia)
19. Ana Ivanovic (Serbia)
20. Kaia Kanepi (Estonia)
21. Yanina Wickmayer (Belgium)
22. Flavia Pennetta (Italy)
23. Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia)
24. Alisa Kleybanova (Russia)
25. Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic)
26. Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (Spain)
27. Alexandra Dulgheru (Romania)
28. Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia)
29. Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia)
30. Andrea Petkovic (Germany)
31. Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic)
32. Tsvetana Pironkova (Bulgaria)