Defending champion
Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis (, sk, Martina Hingisová; 30 September 1980) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. Hingis is the first Swiss player, male or female, to win a major title and attain a world No. 1 ranking. She spent a total of 209 weeks a ...
defeated
Conchita MartÃnez
"Conchita" MartÃnez Bernat (born 16 April 1972) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. She was the first Spaniard to win the women's singles title at The Championships, Wimbledon, Wimbledon, doing so in 1994 Wimbledon Championships â ...
in the final, 6–3, 6–3 to win the women's singles tennis title at the 1998 Australian Open.
This was the first
major
Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...
in which future world No. 1 and 23-time major singles champion
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American inactive professional tennis player. Considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for ...
competed in the main draw. She was defeated by
her sister Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...
in the second round.
Serena and Venus Williams - A. R. Schafer - Google Books
/ref>
Nirupama Vaidyanathan
Nirupama Sanjeev ('' née'' Vaidyanathan; born 8 December 1976) is an Indian former professional tennis player. In the 1998 Australian Open, Sanjeev became the second Indian woman (after Nirupama Mankad) in the Open era to feature in a major ...
became the first Indian woman in the Open Era
The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Birmingham, England now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today as a separate sp ...
to contest, and to win, a major singles match.
Seeds
Qualifying
Draw
Finals
Top half
Section 1
Section 2
Section 3
Section 4
Bottom half
Section 5
Section 6
Section 7
Section 8
References
External links
1998 Australian Open – Women's draws and results
at the International Tennis Federation
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the governing body of world tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. It was founded in 1913 as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by twelve national tennis associations. As of 2016, there a ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:1998 Australian Open - Women's Singles
Women's singles
Australian Open (tennis) by year – Women's singles
1998 in Australian women's sport