NEW YORK—Defending champions Naomi Osaka and Novak Djokovic are the No. 1 seeds for singles play in the US Open.
Osaka, who beat Serena Williams in last year’s final for her first Grand Slam title, recently regained the top spot in the Women’s Tennis Association rankings from Ash Barty. Barty is the No. 2 seed, followed by Karolina Pliskova, Wimbledon champion Simona Halep and Elina Svitolina.
Williams was given the No. 8 seed Wednesday by the US Tennis Association. Madison Keys, the 2017 runner-up who just won the Western & Southern Open, rounds out the top 10 seeds.
Djokovic, bidding for his second straight major title, is followed by fellow past US Open champions Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Dominic Thiem is No. 4 and surging Daniil Medvedev, who won the title outside Cincinnati last week in what was his third straight tournament reaching the final, is fifth.
The draw will be held Thursday and main-draw play begins Monday.
Top-seeded Wang Qiang, meanwhile, advanced to the quarterfinals of the Bronx Open with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Fiona Ferro on Wednesday.
The Chinese player, who will be the No. 18 seed in next week’s US Open, will next face Anna Blinkova, who had to wait out a third-set rain delay before outlasting Mihaela Buzarnescu, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 in a match that lasted two hours and six minutes.
No. 10 seed Karolina Muchova also reached the quarterfinals by beating Kristie Ahn, 6-3, 6-1, moving on to play Magda Linette. Linette knocked off ninth-seeded Aliaksandra Sasnovich, 6-1, 6-4.
Goran Ivanisevic, Sergi Bruguera, Conchita Martínez and Jonas Björkman, on the other hand, are the four candidates for the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s class of 2020.
The four players announced Wednesday, all former Grand Slam tournament champions, are in their second year of a three-year possible candidacy in the player category.
Ivanisevic won the 2001 Wimbledon title and reached the final three other times. The hard-serving Croatian, who reached No. 2 in the world rankings, is now working with top-ranked Djokovic.
Bruguera won back-to-back French Open titles in 1993 and 1994, while fellow Spaniard Martínez won the 1994 Wimbledon championship among her 33 singles titles. She also helped Spain win five Fed Cup titles.
Björkman won the career Grand Slam in doubles and reached No. 1 in the doubles rankings. He won 54 doubles titles and helped Sweden win three Davis Cup championships.
The 2020 class will be announced in January. Induction is set for July 18.
In the Fed Cup, the US will face Latvia for a place in next year’s finals, the first time the “World Cup of Tennis” tournament system will be used.
The draw for February’s qualifying matches pits the Americans against a Latvian team that could include former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko and last year’s US Open semifinalist Anastasija Sevastova.
Romania, the home country of Wimbledon champion Simona Halep, will play Russia, while Spain will face Japan, Canada plays Switzerland and Britain takes on Slovakia.
Four nations, including 2019 Fed Cup finalists Australia and France, and host nation Hungary, have already qualified for the inaugural 12-team final tournament in April 2020.
Image credits: AP