The

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...

is an annual tennis tournament created in

1905 As the second year of the massive Russo-Japanese War begins, more than 100,000 die in the largest world battles of that era, and the war chaos leads to the 1905 Russian Revolution against Nicholas II of Russia (Shostakovich's 11th Symphony i ...

and played on outdoor hard courts at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The women's singles was first contested in 1922 along with the women's and mixed doubles competition as the last three events to be added. The Australian Open is played during two weeks mid-January, and has been chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam tournaments of the tennis season since 1987. The event was not held from 1940 to 1945 because of World War II, and 1986 because Tennis Australia wanted to move the tournament start from mid-December 1986 to mid-January 1987. Margaret Court holds the all-time record for singles titles at this tournament with 11; 7 in the Amateur Era and 4 in the Open Era. Serena Williams holds the Open Era record with 7 singles titles.

History

Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide,

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, and Melbourne, Australia have all held the event. The competition switched locations every year before it settled in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

at the Kooyong Stadium, moving to Flinders Park, now Melbourne Park, in 1988. Several calendar changes took place for the Australian Open, from January to December in 1972 to bypass the January-to-June International Lawn Tennis Federation (ITLF) ban of World Championship Tennis (WCT) players; from late to early December in 1977 to avoid the Christmas holidays, which resulted in having two Opens in the season; and back to January, when the planned December 1986 edition was moved to early 1987, leaving no Open for the 1986 season. An all British and an all American final were contested in 1935 and 1979 respectively, but otherwise every other final contested until 1980 featured an Australian player. The women's singles' rules have undergone several changes, since the first edition. This event has been contested in a

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

format, and all matches played at the best-of-three sets. Since 1922, all sets have been decided in the advantage format, with six games and two games difference. The lingering death best-of-twelve points tie-break was introduced in

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

, and used for the first ftwo sets since then, except from

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

, when the tie-break was also played in final sets. The court surface changed once, from grass (1922–1987) to hard courts, since the move to Flinders Park in 1988. No tennis player has won this event on both grass and Rebound Ace; Serena Williams is the only player to win the tournament on two different surfaces, winning her first three titles on Rebound Ace and her last four on Plexicushion. The champion receives a miniature replica of the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup, named after the five-time champion, which was first awarded to the champion in 1934. In 2010, the winner received prize money of A$2,100,000. In the Australasian Championship,

Margaret Molesworth Maud Margaret 'Mall' Molesworth (née Mutch; 18 October 1894 – 9 July 1985) was a tennis player from Queensland, Australia who won the inaugural Australasian Championships women's singles title in 1922 and successfully defended her title in 1 ...

(1922–1923) and Daphne Akhurst (1925–1926) co-hold the records for most wins and most consecutive wins. In the Australian Championships, Margaret Court (1960–1966) holds the records for most titles with seven wins, and most consecutive titles with seven from (1960–1966). In the Australian Open, Serena Williams (2003, 2005, 2007, 2009–2010, 2015, 2017) has the most victories, with seven. The record for most consecutive titles is three held by the following players: Margaret Court (1969–1971), Evonne Goolagong (1974–1976),

Steffi Graf Stefanie Maria Graf ( , ; born 14 June 1969) is a German former professional tennis player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 for a record 377 weeks and won 22 major singles titles, ...

(1988–1990), Monica Seles (1991–1993), Martina Hingis (1997–1999). Overall in the Championship's history, Margaret Court (1960–1973) holds the records for most titles with eleven wins, and most consecutive titles with seven from (1960–1966). This event has been won in straight sets during the Open Era of tennis by the following players: Margaret Court in 1969, 1970 and 1973, Virginia Wade in 1972,

Kerry Melville Reid Kerry Melville Reid (née Melville; born 7 August 1947) is a former professional tennis player from Australia. During her 17-year career, Reid won one Grand Slam singles title and 26 other singles titles and was the runner-up in 40 singles tou ...

in 1977 January, Evonne Goolagong in 1975, 1976 and 1977 December, Chris O'Neil in 1978, Barbara Jordan in 1979,

Hana Mandlíková Hana Mandlíková (born 19 February 1962) is a former professional tennis player from Czechoslovakia who later obtained Australian citizenship. During her career she won four Grand Slam singles titles - the 1980 Australian Open, 1981 French Op ...

in 1980 and 1987,

Martina Navratilova Martina Navratilova ( cs, Martina Navrátilová ; ; born October 18, 1956) is a Czech–American, former professional tennis player. Widely considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, Navratilova won 18 major singles titles, 31 maj ...

in 1983,

in 1988, 1989 and 1994, Monica Seles in 1992 and 1996, Mary Pierce in 1995, Martina Hingis in 1997, 1998 and 1999, Lindsay Davenport in 2000, Jennifer Capriati in 2001, Amélie Mauresmo in 2006, Maria Sharapova in 2008, Victoria Azarenka in 2012, Li Na in 2014 and Serena Williams in 2007, 2009, 2015 and 2017.

Finals

Australasian Championships

Australian Championships

Australian Open

Statistics

Multiple champions

Champions by country

Notes

References

;General * * ;Specific

External links

Australian Open official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Australian Open women's singles champions Women