Shahar Peer has benefited from the absence of Serena Williams and Justine Henin and will be seeded 16 at the US Open starting on Monday.

Having slipped four places to 18 in the WTA rankings, Peer along with compatriot Dudi Sela will be looking to revive their flagging fortunes

Peer has lost in seven of her last eight tournaments to players outside of the top 20 and last week in Canada she crashed out in the first round of the Rogers Cup in Montreal. She reached the third round at Flushing Meadow last year. Failure to get that far this year could see the Israeli slip out of the top 20. She is currently under the tutelage of Craig Kardon, the former coach of Martina Navratilova.

Sela is being trained by Amos Mansdorf. Since reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon last year, he has failed to get past the first round of a grand slam tournament including a first-round defeat to Kevin Kim last year. He recently won the Vancouver Challenger and lies 93rd in the world.