The Australian Open 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 in the amateur era. 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, and Melbourne, Australia have all held the event. The competition switched locations every year before it settled in 1972 at the Kooyong Stadium, moving to Flinders Park, now Melbourne Park, in 1988. 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 format, and all matches played at the best-of-three 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 (1922–1923) and Daphne Akhurst (1925–1926) co-hold the records for most wins and most consecutive wins.
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| align=center| 1922 || || || || || 6–3, 10–8
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| align=center| 1923 || || || || || 6–1, 7–5
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| align=center| 1924 || || || || || 6–3, 3–6, 8–6
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| align=center| 1925 || || || || || 1–6, 8–6, 6–4
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| align=center| 1926 || || || || || 6–1, 6–3
|}
Australian Championships
{|class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!width=65|Year
!Country
!width=175|Champion
!Country
!width=175|Runner-up
!class="unsortable"|Score in the final || 6–3, 6–2
|-
|align=center| 1976 || || || || || 6–2, 6–2
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|align=center| 1977 || || || || 4–6, 6–3, 6–4
|-
|align=center| 2024 || || || || || 6–3, 6–2
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|align=center| 2025 || || Madison Keys || || Aryna Sabalenka || 6–3, 2–6, 7–5
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|align=center| 2026 || || Elena Rybakina || || Aryna Sabalenka || 6–4, 4–6, 6–4
|}
Statistics
Multiple champions
{| class="sortable wikitable"
|- style="background: #efefef"
|-
!Player
!Amateur Era
!Open Era
!All-time
!class="unsortable"|Years
|-
| || align="center" | 7 || align="center" | 4 || align="center" | 11||1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973
|-
| || align="center" | 0 || align="center" | 7 || align="center" | 7 || 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2017
|-
| || align="center" |6 || align="center" |0 || align="center" |6 || 1937, 1940, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1951
|-
| || align="center" | 5 || align="center" | 0 || align="center" | 5 ||1925, 1926, 1928, 1929, 1930
|-
| || align="center" | 0 || align="center" | 4 || align="center" | 4 ||1974, 1975, 1976, 1977(Dec)
|-
| || align="center" | 0 || align="center" | 4 || align="center" | 4 ||1988, 1989, 1990, 1994
|-
| || align="center" | 0 || align="center" | 4 || align="center" | 4 ||1991, 1992, 1993, 1996
|-
| || align="center" | 3 || align="center" | 0 || align="center" | 3||1933, 1934, 1936
|-
| || align="center" | 0 || align="center" | 3 || align="center" | 3||1997, 1998, 1999
|-
| || align="center" | 0 || align="center" | 3 || align="center" | 3 ||1981, 1983, 1985
|-
| || align="center" | 0 || align="center" | 2 || align="center" | 2 || 2012, 2013
|-
| || align="center" | 2 || align="center" | 0 || align="center" | 2||1931, 1932
|-
| || align="center" | 0 || align="center" | 2 || align="center" | 2||2001, 2002
|-
| || align="center" | 0 || align="center" | 2 || align="center" | 2||1982, 1984
|-
| || align="center" | 2 || align="center" | 0 || align="center" | 2 ||1952, 1954
|-
| || align="center" | 0 || align="center" | 2 || align="center" | 2||1980, 1987
|-
| || align="center" | 2 || align="center" | 0 || align="center" | 2||1922, 1923
|-
| || align="center" | 0 || align="center" | 2 || align="center" | 2||2019, 2021
|-
| || align="center" | 2 || align="center" | 0 || align="center" | 2||1956, 1959
|-
|