Australian Open seeds confirmed: Sabalenka leads Swiatek with Gauff top American, Raducanu at No 28
The official seeds for the 2026 Australian Open have been confirmed by tournament organisers and, as expected, world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka will headline the women’s draw while defending champion Madison Keys is seeded ninth.
The hard-court Grand Slam gets underway on Sunday, January 18, and the seeds are based on the WTA Rankings of January 12 with the top 32 players getting the nod and early protection in the draw as they can’t face each other until the third round.
Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek had been assured of being the top two seeds since late 2025, as it was mathematically impossible for them to lose the No 1 and No 2 spots ahead of the opening major.
But the race for the third seed spot went down to the wire between American pair Coco Gauff and Amanda Anisimova as the former started the year at No 3 before Anisimova moved ahead last week.
However, Gauff reclaimed the No 3 spot after reaching the semi-finals of the United Cup while Anisimova lost early at the Brisbane International.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter too much as one will go into the top half of the draw with Sabalenka and the other into the bottom half with Swiatek.
Elena Rybakina, who many have tipped to win the Australian Open, completes the top five with Jessica Pegula, Jasmine Paolini and Mirra Andreeva next in line.
Defending champion Keys dropped two places in this week’s rankings so will only be seeded ninth, but that is unlikely to bother the American as she was seeded 19th last year when she won the title, beating Rybakina, Swiatek and Sabalenka along the way.
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Belinda Bencic completes the top 10 after she moved up one spot on the back of finishing runner-up at the United Cup with Switzerland.
Former world No 1 and two-time Australian Open winner Naomi Osaka is seeded 16th while fellow Grand Slam winners Jelena Ostapenko (No 24) and Marketa Vondrousova (No 32) also make the cut.
Rising star Victoria Mboko will make her Australian Open debut and she will be seeded 17th while fellow youngster Iva Jovic from the United States is 29th.
British No 1 Emma Raducanu will be seeded at a Grand Slam for the first time since 2022 when she was seeded 11th at the US Open following her successful title run at Flushing Meadows the year before.
The draw for the season-opening Grand Slam at Melbourne Park will take place on Thursday, January 15 at 14:30 local time (03:30 GMT).
WTA Australian Open Seeds
1. Aryna Sabalenka
2. Iga Swiatek
3. Coco Gauff
4. Amanda Anisimova
5. Elena Rybakina
6. Jessica Pegula
7. Jasmine Paolini
8. Mirra Andreeva
9. Madison Keys
10. Belinda Bencic
11. Ekaterina Alexandrova
12. Elina Svitolina
13. Linda Noskova
14. Clara Tauson
15. Emma Navarro
16. Naomi Osaka
17. Victoria Mboko
18. Ludmilla Samsonova
19. Karolina Muchova
20. Marta Kostyuk
21. Elise Mertens
22. Leylah Fernandez
23. Diana Shnaider
24. Jeļena Ostapenko
25. Paula Badosa
26. Dayana Yastremska
27. Sofia Kenin
28. Emma Raducanu
29. Iva Jovic
30. Maya Joint
31. Anna Kalinskaya
32. Marketa Vondrousova
