Australian Open: The 9 greatest women’s singles champions – ranked!
It is less than one week until action begins at the Australian Open, with the leading WTA players looking to lift the women’s singles titles.
The eventual champion will be following in the footsteps of greatness, with the tournament crowning some legendary champions over the years.
Looking a titles won, overall impact, and legacy, we rank the nine greatest Australian Open women’s singles champions over the Open Era.
9) Jennifer Capriati
Titles: 2001-02
A handful of women have won two Australian Open titles, but Capriati’s impressive double sees her kickstart our countdown in ninth place.
The American memorably lifted her first Grand Slam title at the event in 2001, snapping Martina Hingis’s winning run by defeating the three-time former champion in the final.
Twelve months later, Capriati again defeated Hingis to defend her title, rallying from a set and 4-0 down – saving four championship points – in a three-set thriller.
8) Chris Evert
Titles: 1982, 1984
Finals: 1974, 1981, 1985, 1988
Tennis icon Evert only played the Australian Open six times but reached the final in all of those appearances Down Under.
The US great beat chief rival Martina Navratilova to win her first title in 1982, completing the Career Grand Slam in the process, and then beat Helena Sukova on her return to the tournament in 1984.
Evert was also a runner-up in 1974, 1981, 1985, and again in her last appearance at the Australian Open in 1988.
7) Martina Navratilova
Titles: 1981, 1983, 1985
Finals: 1975, 1982, 1987
A true tennis icon, Navratilova won three Australian Open women’s singles titles across the early 1980s.
Having lost her first-ever Grand Slam singles final at the event in 1975, the Czech-born American beat Evert in the legendary 1981 final to lift the title for the first time.
That was followed by further victories over Kathy Jordan in the 1983 final and again over Evert in 1982, while she achieved runner-up finishes in both 1982 and 1987.
6) Martina Hingis
Titles: 1997-99
Finals: 2000-02
The only singles Slam she won on multiple occasions, Hingis lifted three Australian Open titles and reached six consecutive finals across the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Hingis was just 16 when she beat Mary Pierce to lift her first Grand Slam singles crown at the event in 1997 and successfully defended her title with va ictory versus Conchita Martinez in 1998.
The Swiss won her last Australian Open – and last singles major – by defeating Amelie Mauresmo in the 1990 final, before three straight runner-up showings between 2000 and 2002.
5) Margaret Court
Titles: 1969-71, 1973
Court dominated the Australian Championships during the closing years of the amateur age and continued her dominance into the beginning of the Open Era.
The Australian claimed the first ‘Australian Open’ title by defeating leading rival Billie Jean King in 1969 and then saw off compatriot Kerry Melville to successfully defend her title in 1970.
Court completed a successful ‘threepeat’ by defeating Evonne Goolagong in the 1971 final, and returned post-maternity leave to down her rival once again in the 1973 final – her final title at her home Slam.
Australian Open News
The 7 women with the most Australian Open match wins: Serena Williams with 92, Maria Sharapova 2nd
2025 Australian Open projected women’s singles seeds: ft. Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek & Coco Gauff
4) Evonne Goolagong
Titles: 1974-76, 1977 (Dec)
Finals: 1971-1973
One of the most celebrated players of the modern era, Goolagong won four of her seven Grand Slam singles titles at her home major.
After three straight final defeats from 1971-73, she finally triumphed by defeating Evert to lift the title in 1974, before downing Navratilova to defend her title the following year.
Goolagong completed her successful ‘threepeat’ with a win over Renata Tomanova in the 1976 final, before defeating Helen Gourlay to win the tournament for a fourth and final time in 1977 (Dec).
3) Steffi Graf
Titles: 1988-90, 1994
Finals: 1993
Graf was a dominant figure in the women’s game across the late 1980s and early 1990s, and she won four of her 22 Grand Slam titles in Melbourne.
The German is perhaps most famous for her 1988 ‘Golden Slam’, which began with victory over Evert in the 1988 Australian Open final – the only major final between the two tennis legends.
Graf then successfully defended her title with a victory over Helena Sukova in 1989, before beating Mary Joe Fernandez to make it three in a row in 1990.
After defeat in the 1993 final, the former world No 1 triumphed for a fourth and final time by thrashing Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in 1994.
2) Monica Seles
Titles: 1991-93, 1996
Seles was triumphant in her first four appearances at the Australian Open, a feat that is unlikely to ever be repeated.
Making her tournament debut in 1991, the former world No 1 rallied from a set down to defeat Jana Novotna in the final, and then beat Fernandez to claim back-to-back triumphs the following year.
Seles then sealed her Melbourne ‘threepeat’ with a rallying victory versus Graf in 1993, though did not play the event for two years afterwards following her stabbing in the April of that year.
However, she made a triumphant return in 1996, sealing an emotional triumph with a straight-sets win over Anke Huber – her ninth and final Grand Slam victory.
1) Serena Williams
Titles: 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009-10, 2015, 2017
Finals: 2016
With seven titles putting her three clear of any other woman in the Open Era, Williams was an easy pick to top our countdown of the greatest Australian Open champions.
Williams beat older sister Venus in the 2003 final to lift her first title Down Under, a triumph that saw her complete the first of two ‘Serena Slams’.
She missed the 2004 tournament but returned in 2005 to defeat Lindsay Davenport in the final, before winning the 2007 title as an unseeded player with a dominant win over Maria Sharapova.
Williams thrashed Dinara Safina to win her fourth title in 2009 and successfully defended her crown with victory over Justine Henin in 2010 – the only major final between the two.
The American reached three further finals from 2015-17, losing in 2016 but beating Sharapova in 2015 and Venus in 2017 – her final major – to seal her place in Melbourne history.
Read Next: Australian Open: The 9 greatest men’s singles champions – ranked!
