Aryna Sabalenka heads to Melbourne looking to collect a third straight Australian Open singles title and is the favourite in the betting to collect the trophy again.
Naomi Osaka and Victoria Azarenka are the only other players in the field to win the title on more than one occasion, in what looks like an open women’s tournament.
Aryna Sabalenka looks the one to beat following her record in Melbourne and the fact that she heads into the tournament in good form.
The world number one has won three of her last seven Grand Slam events and heads Down Under as the 2024 US Open champion, following her win over Jessica Pegula at Flushing Meadows.
Sabalenka cruised to a 6-3 6-2 win over Zheng Qinwen in last year’s final and will look to become the first person since Martina Hingis (1997,1998,1999) to win three straight Australian Opens.
The 26-year-old has an 81%-win record at the first Grand Slam event of the year and will be full of confidence going into the 2025 tournament.
The Belarussian won the Brisbane International event at the start of January, beating qualifier Polina Kudermetova in three sets.
Sabalenka didn’t drop a set en-route to winning the 2024 title and will be the top seed in this year’s tournament.
The favourite though has been handed a tough first round test though, with the defending champion facing American Sloane Stephens – a former semi-finalist in Melbourne - in the first round.
Iga Swiatek is a five-time Grand Slam champion although her record in Melbourne is not as good as it should be.
The world number two has only once progressed past the fourth round once – that was in 2022 when she reached the semi-finals.
Swiatek made the third-round last year but she did have a tough draw to contend with. The Polish star had to see off American pair Sofia Kenin and Danielle Collins in the first two rounds.
The 23-year-old is in the bottom half of the draw and none of the other top-10 players are in her quarter, which should mean a more comfortable start to the event.
Swiatek has been in good early season form ahead of the opening ‘Big Four’ tournament of the year.
Even though she fell to a 6-4 6-4 loss against Coco Gauff in the United Cup, she had previously beaten Katie Boulter and Elena Rybakina.
It’s only been three years since Australia celebrated a women’s singles success, when Ashleigh Barty lifted the Daphne Akhurst trophy.
Barty has since retired and left a big hole to fill, with Australia only currently having one player inside the top-100 in the world rankings.
There will be eight home-players in the main draw, although five of them needed wildcards in order to take their place - Ajla Tomljanovic, Daria Saville, Talia Gibson, Maya Joint and Emerson Jones.
Destenee Aiava and Kimberly Birrell – ranked 99 in the world - went through the qualifying rounds, with Birrell handed a first-round encounter against 13th seed Anna Kalinskaya.
The only player to automatically qualify was Olivia Gadecki, with the 22-year-old looking the most likely to progress pas the first round.
The world number 106 will face Britain’s Katie Boulter in the second round, if they both are successful in their opening matches.
Aryna Sabalenka - 3.25
Coco Gauff - 5.00
Iga Swiatek - 6.00
Elena Rybakina - 9.00
Qinwen Zheng - 15.00
Karolina Muchova - 21.00
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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.