Serena gets top billing

Defending champion Serena Williams heads a list of players entered into next month8217;s US Open, organisers said on Friday.

The official entry list features four top 10 Americans 8212; Serena, elder sister Venus Williams, Lindsay Davenport and Jennifer Capriati 8212; who between them have won 15 of the last 17 Grand Slam women8217;s singles titles. Serena has won five of the last six majors.

Anna Kournikova has not entered the hard court Grand Slam, however. Now ranked 76th in the world, the Russian is suffering from a persistent back injury.

Angelika Roesch of Germany was the last player, ranked 107th last week, accepted directly into the women8217;s field of 128.