MELBOURNE: Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova topped the lists of seeded players at the Australian Open, with organisers sticking to world rankings.

Federer, the defending champion, is aiming for his 10th Grand Slam singles title and has been atop the men's rankings since February 2004.

Sharapova moved to the top of the women's seedings list at Melbourne Park after No. 1-ranked Justine Henin-Hardenne withdrew from the tournament due to personal reasons.

No pressure

Sharapova has only been seeded No. 1 once, when she won last year's U.S. Open.

``I don't see it as putting any extra pressure on me,'' Sharapova said. ``Whatever you are seeded you've just got to go out and play your matches.''

Defending Australian Open and Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo was seeded second. On the men's side, French Open champion Rafael Nadal was seeded No. 2 and is expected to recover from a groin strain that forced him out of a warm-up tournament in Sydney this week.

Every man in the top 20 has entered the tournament, while 18 of the top 20 women are expected to be in the draw. The draw will be held on Friday.

The seedings: Men: 1. Roger Federer (Sui), 2. Rafael Nadal (Esp), 3. Nikolay Davydenko (Rus), 4. Ivan Ljubicic (Cro), 5. James Blake (U.S.), 6. Andy Roddick (U.S.), 7. Tommy Robredo (Esp), 8. David Nalbandian (Arg), 9. Mario Ancic (Cro), 10. Fernando Gonzalez (Chi), 11. Marcos Baghdatis (Cyp), 12. Tommy Haas (Ger), 13. Tomas Berdych (Cze), 14. Novak Djokovic (Srb), 15. Andy Murray (GBR), 16. David Ferrer (Esp), 17. Jarkko Nieminen (Fin), 18. Richard Gasquet (Fra), 19. Lleyton Hewitt (Aus), 20. Radek Stepanek (Cze), 21. Dmitry Tursunov (Rus), 22. Dominik Hrbaty (Svk), 23. Robin Soderling (Swe), 24. Juan Carlos Ferrero (Esp), 25. Mikhail Youzhny (Rus), 26. Marat Safin (Rus), 27. Jose Acasuso (Arg), 28. Sebastien Grosjean (Fra), 29. Xavier Malisse (Bel), 30. Agustin Calleri (Arg), 31. Stanislas Wawrinka (Sui) and 32. Nicolas Almagro (Esp).

Women: 1. Maria Sharapova (Rus), 2. Amelie Mauresmo (Fra), 3. Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus), 4. Kim Clijsters (Bel), 5. Nadia Petrova (Rus), 6. Martina Hingis (Sui), 7. Elena Dementieva (Rus), 8. Patty Schnyder (Sui), 9. Dinara Safina (Rus), 10. Nicole Vaidisova (Cze), 11. Jelena Jankovic (Srb), 12. Anna Chakvetadze (Rus), 13. Ana Ivanovic (Srb), 14. Francesca Schiavone (Ita), 15. Daniela Hantuchova (Svk), 16. Shahar Peer (Isr), 17. Anna-Lena Groenefeld (Ger), 18. Marion Bartoli (Fra), 19. Li Na (Chn), 20. Tatiana Golovin (Fra), 21. Katarina Srebotnik (Slo), 22. Vera Zvonareva (Rus), 23. Ai Sugiyama (Jpn), 24. Samantha Stosur (Aus), 25. Anabel Medina Garrigues (Esp), 26. Maria Kirilenko (Rus), 27. Mara Santangelo (Ita), 28. Flavia Pennetta (Ita), 29. Alona Bondarenko (Ukr), 30. Tathiana Garbin (Ita), 31. Zheng Jie (Chn) and 32. Eleni Daniilidou (Gre). — Agencies

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