Australian Open 2023 Women's Report

The 2023 Australian Open for women had one major title favorite going into the tournament, with Iga Światek participating. However, several women on the entry list could pose a significant challenge for the Polish player. Aryna Sabalenka, Ons Jabeur, and the in-form Caroline Garcia, who had just won the WTA Finals, were all present in Melbourne. Add to that outsiders like Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, Jessica Pegula, and the superstar Coco Gauff, and you have a large pool of potential winners to choose from.

The winners of the past two years, Ashleigh Barty (2022) and Naomi Osaka, were not present because the Australian has retired and the Japanese was pregnant. Paula Badosa (injury) and Simona Halep (doping suspension) were also absent from the lineup. Dutchwoman Arianne Hartono was also present. She was eligible to compete in Melbourne for the second time this year after her debut in 2022, but the tournament ended for her after the first round. Shelby Rogers, with a 6-4/6-3 score, was too strong for Hartono.

Highlights Australian Open 2023

While two former champions, Barty and Osaka, were missing, the draw immediately produced a clash between two former champions in the first round. Viktoria Azarenka, winner of the Australian Open in 2012 and 2013, defeated Sofia Kenin (winner in 2020) in this match. The first round was also the end for Daria Kasatkina. The Russian world number eight was swept off the court by a resounding 6-1/6-1 score by her compatriot Varvara Gracheva. In addition, the seeds Beatriz Haddad-Maia, Martina Trevisan, Marie Bouzkova, Amanda Anisimova, and Kaia Kanepi also lost to their opponents in the first round.

The second round also proved a significant stumbling block for several big names. Second-seeded Ons Jabeur, for example, was defeated by Marketa Vondrousova, and big names like Veronika Kudermetova and Petra Kvitova also crashed out. Maria Sakkari, Madison Keys, and Danielle Collins – a 2022 finalist – joined them in the third round, paving the way to the final for players like Swiatek and Sabalenka. This was especially true since only sixteen players were active in the fourth round – the round of 16.

Rybakina surprises Swiatek

Rybakina, however, had other ideas and pulled off a stunning upset in the round of 16, dispatching the Polish tournament's number one in straight sets: 6-4/6-4. The Kazakh only lost her own service game twice and managed to snatch a game from the heavy title favorite four times. Rybakina then defeated Yelena Ostapenko, placing her in the semifinals alongside Azarenka, Sabalenka, and—the most striking name—Magda Linette. This was a particularly impressive performance for Linette, who had defeated Anett Kontaveit, Yekaterina Aleksandrova, and Garcia on her way to the semifinals.

The final, however, proved too much for the 30-year-old Polish veteran, who was defeated 7-6/6-2 by Sabalenka. On the other side of the draw, the semifinal pitted Rybakina against Azarenka, with the former ultimately prevailing by dispatching the former winner in straight sets: 7-6/6-3. This set up a final between the 24-year-old Sabalenka and the 23-year-old Rybakina.

2023 Australian Open final

The 2023 Australian Open women's final was a long, gripping affair that could have gone either way. In the first set, Rybakina broke the Belarusian's serve twice, while the other managed to break it only once (6-4). In the two sets that followed, both women were strong on their own serve, with only Sabalenka managing to break her opponent's serve once, resulting in the sets ending 6-3, 6-4 in Sabalenka's favor. Thus, Sabalenka won the 2023 Australian Open, achieving her first Grand Slam victory after having already won eleven WTA titles.