Chinese Wang Qiang seeded 21st at Australian Open

MELBOURNE -- Chinese top tennis player Wang Qiang is the 21st seed at the Australian Open on Thursday as Novak Djokovic and Simona Halep led the men's and women's singles seeding lists respectively.

It will be the first time for Wang to head into a Grand Slam as a seeded player. The 26-year-old has achieved a career breakthrough last season as she qualified for two straight semifinals in Wuhan and China Open.

She also retained the Asian Games title in Jakarta, Indonesia in August.

World number one Djokovic, who produced a strong comeback last year, was the top seed of men's singles. Spaniard Rafael Nadal and defending champion Roger Federer were seeded second and third respectively.

Romanian Halep was named the top seed in women's singles, followed by Angelique Kerber of Germany and Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki.