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Federer, Safina top seeded for U.S. Open

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No surprise here that Roger Federer will be the No. 1-seeded player in the 164-man U.S. Open draw. No surprise and no one can argue. Best player this season, maybe best player ever. Done and done.

Dinara Safina was named the No. 1 women’s seed. The Open, which begins Monday, goes by the book, has for a while. Whatever the computer rankings say, that’s how the Open makes its draw seedings.

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Which doesn’t always make sense. There was a time when the Open wouldn’t always follow the computer rankings. What if a clay court expert became No. 1 off fabulous clay court results but wasn’t good on the hard surfaces of the Open? Or, how about this year?

Safina lost in the finals of the season’s first major tournament, the Australian Open, to Serena Williams, 6-0, 6-3. Williams won the first five games in about 10 minutes. The match was over that quickly. In the finals of the season’s second major, the French Open, Safina lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-4, 6-2, and though the score may have been a little closer, Safina never once looked as if she was going to win a set or make the match really close.

In the third major of the season, Wimbledon, Safina lost to Venus Williams, 6-1, 6-0, in the semifinals. The match was, to put it kindly, uncompetitive.

So, if you were forced to pick a winner of the U.S. Open women’s title and bet something really valuable, ask yourself: Would you pick Dinara Safina? Me neither.

-- Diane Pucin

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