Few pretenders to Serena Williams' crown

Serena Williams' absence from the forthcoming US Open due to a foot injury ought to have played into the hands of the outsiders who, for too long, have been left in the shadows by the dominance of the world No 1.

While many will point at the often ridiculously one-sided nature of Williams' canter to the Wimbledon title in early July and declare it open season for some unfancied outsiders, others may point to the lack of obvious pretenders to her Grand Slam throne.

In-form Dane Caroline Wozniacki will surely start as favourite at Flushing Meadows. Wozniacki reached her first and so far only Grand Slam final at the event last year when she was beaten by Kim Clijsters, and will head into the event on a fine run of form.

But, while Wozniacki has made a habit of hoovering up lesser tournament titles, her ability under real pressure is yet to be truly tested, and, for that reason, there will be plenty of people unconvinced by her chances of going one better this year.

Clijsters is seen as another potential beneficiary of Williams' absence, having clawed her way back up to third in the world this season. She also recently won in Cincinnati, although she was surprisingly beaten by Vera Zvonareva in the quarter-finals in Montreal last week.

To listen to surprise Wimbledon finalist Zvonareva speak, the Russian has every confidence of breaking her own Grand Slam duck at a tournament where she has only made it to the fourth round once in seven attempts.

Zvonareva, beaten in the Montreal final by Wozniacki, said: "I always start slow on the hard-court season, but I was finally able to come up with good tennis (in Montreal]. I know what I have to work on and improve for the Open.

"I never look at statistics and I never read odds. I just believe in myself and I know any tournament I go into I can win it. It doesn't matter who is in the draw - I know I can beat anybody on the other side of the net if I play my best tennis."

If recent major form is anything to go by then the surprise packages who joined Williams and Zvonareva in making up a surprise Wimbledon last four just under two months ago should also be in with a shout in New York.

But Tsvetana Pironkova and Peta Kvitova have been singularly unable to build on that success.

In three tournaments since, Pironkova has failed to pass the second stage, while Kvitova has not won a single match in four attempts.

The perennial contenders do not jump out as champions in the making. Maria Sharapova has improved to the extent of reaching the Cincinnati final, but must do more. Venus Williams has not reached a US final since 2002 and Jelena Jankovic seems destined to continue coming up short.

The women's game needs a new star to emerge in the absence of its all-conquering world No 1. On the face of it, Wozniacki would appear the player best equipped for the job, otherwise the women's game will find itself crying out for more of the same from Serena.

The world's top player, who holds the Australian Open and Wimbledon titles, was forced to pull out of the event so she could recover from surgery on her foot after she cut it on broken glass at a restaurant in July.

Her absence has certainly led to a shaking up of the seedings and, in a major boost to her bid of winning in Flushing Meadows, Wozniacki, who has won three titles including a victory earlier this week at the Montreal Cup, was named as the top seed for the event.

It is the first time the world No 2 has ever been the top seed coming into a Grand Slam event.

Defending champion Clijsters is seeded second, followed by two-time US champion Venus Williams, Serbia's Jankovic and Australian Samantha Stosur. In addition to Clijsters and Venus Williams, former US Open champions seeded at the tournament are Nos 11 Svetlana Kuznetsova and 14 Sharapova.

Francesca Schiavone, the 2010 French Open champion, is seeded sixth.