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Beeyong Sison: beeyong@itennisschool.com

Published August 21 2013

New York - The 2013 U.S.Open Tennis Championships is all set to hold the 133rd edition of this storied tournament in New York, the final and fourth Grand Slam event of the year.

Held at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows, the festivities will run for two weeks from August 26  to September 09. Great Britain’s Andy Murray will be defending his first Grand Slam title in the Men’s Singles while Serena Williams the defending champion of the women’s side, is bidding for her 5th U.S. champioship jewel.

This year’s US Open will also be celebrating the 40th anniversary of “equal prize money” for men and women with the largest purse in tournament history. The total prize money will be a tournament record $34.3 million, with $2.6 million going to the men’s and women’s singles winners.

The $2.6 million is so far the largest singles prize in history and each round will shell-out a minimum 37 percent increase with the first to third round losers gaining as much as 43 percent increase from last year. Considering the bonus prize money for the top finishers of the Emirates Airline US Open Series, the total prize money at this year’s US Open can reach $37 million.

As the winners of the 2013 Emirates Airline US Open Series Bonus Challenge, both Rafael Nadal and Serena will be looking for an additional $1 million in prize money at the US Open. If they are successful, they will take home $3.6 million each - the largest payouts in the history of tennis. Let’s take a look at the prize money pay-out breakdown for the men’s, women’s singles events:  

Winner: $2.6 million (+37% raise)

Runner-up: $1.3 million (+37%)

Semifinalist: $650,000 (+37%)

Quarterfinalist: $325,000 (+37%)

Round of 16: $165,000 (+38%)

Round of 32: $93,000 (+43%)

Round of 64: $53,000 (+43%)

Round of 128: $32,000 (+39%)

World No.1 Novak Djokovic is the top-seed in the men’s singles for the second time in three years. Rafael Nadal, who moved up to No. 2 this week from No.4 in the world earned the slot after a blazing summer performance winning back-to-back Masters event at  Montreal and Cincinnati. The defending Murray is seeded third, No. 4 David Ferrer, No. 5 Tomas Berdych. Juan Martin del Potro, and the 2009 champion, is No. 6. Last year’s top seed and five-time US Open Champion Roger Federer is seeded seventh. Rounding the top ten is No.8 Richard Gasquet, No.9 Stanislas Wawrinka, and No.10 Milos Raonic.

In the women’s competition, Serena Williams takes the No. 1 seed honor while the No.2 seed will be held by Victoria Azarenka, the reigning Australian Open champion and last year’s top seed.  Serena is seeded No. 1 at the US Open for just the second time in her career and for the first time since 2002, when she won the title. Right behind Serena and Azarenka is Maria Sharapova, at No.3. The statuesque Russian, who won the  2006 US Open championships, is hampered  by a hip injury and has only played one match since Wimbledon. The rest of the top ten seeds are No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska, No. 5 Sara Errani, No. 6 Li Na, No. 7 Caroline Wozniacki, No. 8 Petra Kvitova, No. 9 Angelique Kerber and No. 10 Jelena Jankovic. Marion Bartoli, the Wimbledon champion who is ranked No.7, recently announced her retirement from professional after the Cincinnati Open last week.

Men’s Singles Seeds

1.Novak Djokovic, Serbia; 2.Rafael Nadal, Spain; 3.Andy Murray, Great Britain; 4.David Ferrer, Spain; 5.Tomas Berdych, Czech Republic; 6.Juan Martin del Potro, Argentina; 7.Roger Federer, Switzerland; 8.Richard Gasquet, France; 9.Stanislas Wawrinka, Switzerland; 10.Milos Raonic, Canada; 11Kei Nishikori, Japan; 12.Tommy Haas, Germany; 13.John Isner, United States; 14.Jerzy Janowicz, Poland; 15.Nicolas Almagro, Spain; 16.Fabio Fognini, Italy; 17.Kevin Anderson, South Africa; 18.Janko Tipsarevic, Serbia; 19.Tommy Robredo, Spain; 20.Andreas Seppi, Italy; 21.Mikhail Youzhny, Russia; 22.Philipp Kohlschreiber, Germany; 23.Feliciano Lopez, Spain; 24.Benoit Paire, France; 25.Grigor Dimitrov, Bulgaria; 26.Sam Querrey, United States; 27.Fernando Verdasco, Spain; 28.Juan Monaco, Argentina; 29.Jurgen Melzer, Austria; 30.Ernests Gulbis, Latvia; 31.Julien Benneteau, France; 32.Dmitry Tursunov, Russia

Women’s Singles Seeds

1.Serena Williams, United States; 2.Victoria Azarenka, Belarus; 3.Maria Sharapova, Russia; 4.Agnieszka Radwanska, Poland; 5.Sara Errani, Italy; 6.Li Na, China; 7.Caroline Wozniacki, Denmark; 8.Petra Kvitova, Czech Republic; 9.Angelique Kerber, Germany; 10. Jelena Jankovic, Serbia; 11.Roberta Vinci, Italy; 12; Samantha Stosur, Australia; 13.Kristen Flipkins, Belgium; 14.Ana Ivanovic, Serbia; 15.Maria Kirilenko, Russia; 16.Sloane Stephens, United States; 17. Sabine Lisicki, Germany; 18.Dominika Cibulkova, Slovak Republic; 19.Carla Suarez Navarro, Spain; 20.Sorana Cirstea, Romania; 21.Nadia Petrova, Russia; 22.    Simona Halep, Romania; 23.Elena Vesnina, Russia; 24.Jamie Hampton, United States; 25.Ekaterina Makarova, Russia; 26.Kaia Kanepi, Estonia; 27.Alize Cornet, Franc; 28.Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia; 29.    Mona Barthel, Germany; 30.Magdalena Rybarikova, Slovak Republic; 31.Laura Robson, Great Britain; 32.    Klara Zakopalova, Czech Republic.