Sydney, Jan 12: French world No.4 Amelie Mauresmo said yesterday she was surprised to be demoted below lower-ranked rival Venus Williams in the seedings for next week's Australian Open.
Mauresmo said the demotion was no big deal but admitted to being puzzled by Williams' elevation to third seed behind only world No.1 Justine Henin-Hardenne and second-ranked Kim Clijsters.
Tournament director Paul Mcnamee said Saturday that Venus Williams would be the third seed for the Australian Open after the withdrawal of her injured sister and defending champion Serena from the event.
Venus has slipped to 11th in the rankings having not played a WTA Tour event since losing the Wimbledon final to Serena last July because of injury.
Yet Australian Open officials made her third seed for the Open starting next week, saying they'd accepted a "special seeding recommendation" from the WTA.



Four-time grand slam champion and former world No.1 Williams was sidelined with an abdominal muscle injury for much of last year.



She made her comeback last Friday by beating Chanda Rubin and then Maria Sharapova on Saturday to win an exhibition event in Hong Kong.



Mauresmo said she had accepted the WTA's explanation for being demoted - even if she didn't entirely agree with it.



"I feel like I'm being punished because she was injured," said Mauresmo, an Australian Open runner-up in 1999," she said at the Sydney International yesterday.


Bureau Report