"Chris O'Neil (tennis) Christine ""Chris"" O'Neil (born 19 March 1956) is a former professional female tennis player from Australia. O'Neil is best known for her singles victory at the 1978 Australian Open, the last Australian female to do so. She also became the first unseeded woman to win the Australian title in the open era. In a relatively weak field she defeated Betsy Nagelsen in the final in straight sets. This feat went unmatched until Serena Williams, unseeded and ranked World No. 81, won the 2007 Australian Open. O'Neil is also one of the few players who have won both"
"2018 Australian Open – Women's Singles Serena Williams was the defending champion, but chose not to participate this year, stating that she was not fully fit after giving birth to her daughter in September 2017. Caroline Wozniacki became the first Danish player to win a Grand Slam singles title, defeating Simona Halep in the final, 7–6, 3–6, 6–4. Wozniacki also regained the WTA no. 1 singles ranking for the first time since 2012. Both finalists saved match points earlier in the tournament: Halep saved three match points against Lauren Davis in the third round and two match points against Angelique"
"from Kerber. Serena's victory was her 23rd Grand Slam title in singles, surpassing Steffi Graf as the all-time leader in Grand Slam titles in the Open era. Mirjana Lučić-Baroni reached her second Grand Slam semifinal 18 years after reaching her first one at Wimbledon. Angelique Kerber ""(Fourth round)"" 2017 Australian Open – Women's Singles Angelique Kerber was the defending champion, but was defeated in the fourth round by Coco Vandeweghe. Serena Williams won the title her 7th Australian title overall and first Australian Open where she did not lose a set during the tournament defeating her sister Venus Williams in"
"2018 Australian Open – Women's singles final The 2018 Australian Open Women's Singles final was the championship tennis match of the Women's Singles tournament at the 2018 Australian Open. It was contested between the world's top two players, Simona Halep and Caroline Wozniacki, then ranked first and second in the world respectively. They had both been world number one without winning a Grand Slam title, and they had also both lost two Grand Slam finals each (Halep at the 2014 and 2017 French Opens and Wozniacki at the 2009 and 2014 US Opens). The winner would win their first Grand"
"Previewing the finals, Tracy Austin stated that, although Williams had a great tournament, she believed that the ride was over and that Sharapova would have no trouble with Williams. Williams thought it was mean and unnecessary and used it as motivation along with other criticism. In the final, Williams lost just three games against Maria Sharapova winning her first title at any tournament since winning the 2005 Australian Open 24 months prior. Williams became the first player since Chris O'Neil to win the title while not being seeded, and claimed her third Australian Open and eighth Grand Slam singles title"
"2017 Australian Open – Women's Singles Angelique Kerber was the defending champion, but was defeated in the fourth round by Coco Vandeweghe. Serena Williams won the title her 7th Australian title overall and first Australian Open where she did not lose a set during the tournament defeating her sister Venus Williams in the final, 6–4, 6–4. This marks the first time the Williams sisters met in a Grand Slam final since the 2009 Wimbledon Championships and the first time they met in the Australian Open final since 2003. With Serena's win, she also regained the WTA singles No. 1 ranking"
"only double fault of the match from the Romanian) to reach championship point at 40-30. Wozniacki won the point, the match and the championship, after Halep hit a backhand into the net. 2018 Australian Open – Women's singles final The 2018 Australian Open Women's Singles final was the championship tennis match of the Women's Singles tournament at the 2018 Australian Open. It was contested between the world's top two players, Simona Halep and Caroline Wozniacki, then ranked first and second in the world respectively. They had both been world number one without winning a Grand Slam title, and they had"
"2018 Australian Open The 2018 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played at Melbourne Park between 15–28 January 2018, and was the first Grand Slam tournament of the 2018 season. The tournament consisted of events for professional players in singles, doubles and mixed doubles play. Junior and wheelchair players compete in singles and doubles tournaments. Roger Federer was the defending champion in the men's singles event and successfully retained his title (his sixth), defeating Marin Čilić in the final, while Caroline Wozniacki won the women's title, defeating Simona Halep in the final to win her first Grand Slam. The tournament"
"were attempting to achieve the career Grand Slam, the career Golden Slam and the career Super Slam. 2018 Australian Open – Women's Doubles Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Šafářová were the defending champions, but Mattek-Sands could not participate this year due to injury. Šafářová played alongside Barbora Strýcová, but lost in the quarterfinals to Hsieh Su-wei and Peng Shuai. Tímea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic won the title, defeating Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina in the final, 6–4, 6–3. It was the first Grand Slam title for Babos, who became the first Hungarian player to win a Grand Slam event since Andrea"
"2018 Australian Open – Women's Doubles Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Šafářová were the defending champions, but Mattek-Sands could not participate this year due to injury. Šafářová played alongside Barbora Strýcová, but lost in the quarterfinals to Hsieh Su-wei and Peng Shuai. Tímea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic won the title, defeating Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina in the final, 6–4, 6–3. It was the first Grand Slam title for Babos, who became the first Hungarian player to win a Grand Slam event since Andrea Temesvári in the 1986 French Open and the second Grand Slam title for Mladenovic. Makarova and Vesnina"
"to maintain her record of not dropping a set in the tournament thus far. Azarenka was later forced to withdraw from her scheduled semi-final against Serena Williams due to a toe injury. Her next tournament was the defence of her Australian Open title. Azarenka won her first six matches dropping only one set en route (against Jamie Hampton in the third round), to reach the final for the second consecutive year, where she faced Li Na of China. Azarenka was able to successfully defend her title with a three set victory in the final; thus, she became the first woman"
"Korie Homan was the defending champion, but she didn't participate this year due to injury. Her compatriot Esther Vergeer won the title in straight sets against Daniela di Toro. Vergeer's singles win was her eighth Australian Open crown, her seventeenth overall, and the fourth time that she has not lost a game during a Grand Slam final. The win in the final was her 404th consecutive match win On her Grand Slam debut Marjolein Buis won in three sets against Annick Sevenans to reach the semifinals. Also into the semifinals were World number one Esther Vergeer who recorded her 402nd"
"ranking at the start of the tournament. 2012 Australian Open – Women's Singles Kim Clijsters was the defending champion, but was defeated in the semifinals by eventual champion Victoria Azarenka. Azarenka went on to win her maiden Grand Slam title in the final, beating 2008 champion Maria Sharapova 6–3, 6–0. For the first time since its formation of the women's singles match in 1922, all of the quarterfinalists were European. Azarenka became the new WTA No. 1 singles player for the first time in her career following the tournament by reaching the final. Caroline Wozniacki, Petra Kvitová and Sharapova were"
"seed Simona Halep. Azarenka started her season at the Brisbane International in Australia. She reached the final after defeating Elena Vesnina, Ysaline Bonaventure, eighth seed Roberta Vinci and surprise qualifier Samantha Crawford. She faced fourth seed Angelique Kerber in the final and won the title without losing a set in the entire tournament. This was her eighteenth WTA title and her first since the 2013 Western & Southern Open. At the Australian Open, Azarenka was seeded 14th and reached the quarterfinals without dropping a set, including a double-bagel win over Alison Van Uytvanck. However, in her quarterfinal match she was"
"2016 Australian Open – Women's Singles Serena Williams was the defending champion in the women's singles tournament at the 2016 Australian Open, and was attempting for the second time to equal Steffi Graf's career record of 22 major singles titles, but lost in the final to Angelique Kerber, 4–6, 6–3, 4–6. Kerber became the first woman to win a singles major title after having saved a match point in the first round, which she did against Misaki Doi. She is also the first German of either sex to win a major since Graf at the 1999 French Open. The top"
"set. Williams then made four games in a row in the second before Sharapova could win a game, Williams served it out in the eight game and won the match. This is her first title at any tournament since winning the 2005 Australian Open. Williams finished with 28 winners and 11 unforced errors. Williams came the first player since Chris O'Neil to win the title whilst not being seeded; and claimed her third Australian Open and eighth Grand Slam singles title overall. The win elevated Williams to 14th in the rankings. Williams dedicated the title to her deceased sister Yetunde"
"2014 Australian Open – Women's Singles Victoria Azarenka was the two-time defending champion, but was defeated by Agnieszka Radwańska in the quarterfinals. Li Na won the title, defeating Dominika Cibulková in the final, 7–6, 6–0, becoming the first Asian Australian Open champion and sixth woman to win the title after being match point down (in the third round against Lucie Šafářová). By winning her third round match, women's top seed Serena Williams broke Margaret Court's record of 60 match victories at the Australian Open. Eugenie Bouchard became the first Canadian to reach the semi-finals in the Major since Carling Bassett-Seguso"
"a women's match. At 15 years and 6 months old, Marta Kostyuk became the youngest player to win a main draw match at the Australian Open since Martina Hingis in 1996 and the youngest to reach the third round at any Grand Slam event since Mirjana Lučić-Baroni at the 1997 US Open. Kostyuk was the youngest player to qualify for a Grand Slam main draw since Sesil Karatantcheva at the 2005 Australian Open. 2018 Australian Open – Women's Singles Serena Williams was the defending champion, but chose not to participate this year, stating that she was not fully fit after"
"first. She would get broken again during the seventh game of the set, which eventually surrendered the match to sister Serena. This was Serena Williams' 23 Grand Slam singles title and seventh Australian Open title for her career, both being Open era records, whilst being one shy of Margaret Court's record of 24 in the history of tennis. The following are the seeded players and notable players who withdrew from the event. Seeding are arranged according to ATP and WTA rankings on 9 January 2017, while ranking and ""points before"" are as of 16 January 2017. The rankings afterwards comes"
"Slam champions would reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal. The seeded players are listed below. They are ordered by the round in which they were knocked out. Note: The sixth seed withdrew and was replaced by Cathy Griffiths. 1979 Australian Open – Women's Singles Fifth-seeded Barbara Jordan defeated Sharon Walsh 6–3, 6–3 in the final to win the Women's Singles title at the 1979 Australian Open. This was Jordan's first tour-level title; the next time that a woman would score her first tour win at a Grand Slam event would not come until Jeļena Ostapenko won the 2017 French Open. This"
"winning her maiden grand slam at the Australian Open, defeating Maria Sharapova, 6–3, 6–0. With the win, she claimed the no. 1 ranking for the first time. Her winning streak continued in the Qatar Total Open. She won the title without dropping a set, beating Samantha Stosur, 6–1, 6–2 in the final. She then won her fourth title of the year at the BNP Paribas Open, once again defeating Sharapova, 6–2, 6–3. Her streak ended when she was defeated by Marion Bartoli in the quarterfinals of Sony Ericsson Open. During the clay season, she reached back-to-back finals, in Porsche Tennis"
"Australian Open. This prevented her from completing a second consecutive Grand Slam and was her 9th Grand Slam final on her record run of 13 finals. One notable débutant was Monica Seles, appearing in her first Grand Slam. She reached the semi-finals without being seeded, and aged only 15. Jennifer Capriati also made her presence felt, becoming the youngest winner (13 years, 2 months) of the girls' singles title – this record was broken in 1993 by Martina Hingis, aged 12. Michael Chang defeated Stefan Edberg, 6–1, 3–6, 4–6, 6–4, 6–2 Arantxa Sánchez Vicario defeated Steffi Graf, 7–6, 3–6, 7–5"
"title in Sydney and then winning her third Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, defeating Kim Clijsters in the final. Fabiola Zuluaga and Patty Schnyder enjoyed runs to their first ever Grand Slam semifinals in singles. Schnyder took advantage of an open draw which saw Venus Williams dumped out in the third round by Lisa Raymond. Zuluaga advanced after Elena Dementieva and Nadia Petrova were early upset victims in her section of the draw, and then benefitted from a walkover from Amélie Mauresmo in the quarterfinals. Defending champion Serena Williams withdrew from the tournament due to her continuing recovery"
"win the Australian Open. However she was beaten in emphatic fashion by Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals, who then defeated Jelena Janković and Ana Ivanovic to win her third Grand Slam title. Daniela Hantuchová also reached her first Grand Slam semifinal. Sister team Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko pulled off an unexpected title run in the Women's Doubles, while Sun Tiantian teamed up with Nenad Zimonjić to win her first Grand Slam tournament of any kind in the Mixed Doubles event. Sharapova continued to impress by winning the tournament in Doha, before her 18-match win streak was snapped by Svetlana Kuznetsova"
"tournament after Clijsters and Serena Williams and the first Japanese player to win a Premier Mandatory title. Simona Halep and Wozniacki were in contention for the WTA no. 1 singles ranking at the beginning of the tournament. Halep retained the top ranking after Wozniacki lost in the fourth round. Moreover, former no. 1 players Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams played in the same tournament for the first time since the 2016 Australian Open. This was Azarenka's first tournament since the 2017 Wimbledon Championships and Williams' first since the 2017 Australian Open. All seeds received a bye into the"
"2012 Australian Open – Women's Singles Kim Clijsters was the defending champion, but was defeated in the semifinals by eventual champion Victoria Azarenka. Azarenka went on to win her maiden Grand Slam title in the final, beating 2008 champion Maria Sharapova 6–3, 6–0. For the first time since its formation of the women's singles match in 1922, all of the quarterfinalists were European. Azarenka became the new WTA No. 1 singles player for the first time in her career following the tournament by reaching the final. Caroline Wozniacki, Petra Kvitová and Sharapova were also in contention for the No. 1"
"Australian Open, none of the Grand Slam finalists were former Grand Slam Champions. The next time that none of the Grand Slam champions would feature in a Wimbledon final would not come until 2013. Martina Hingis ""(Semifinals)"" Anna Kournikova withdrew due to a thumb injury. She was replaced in the draw by Lucky Loser Lilia Osterloh. 1998 Wimbledon Championships – Women's Singles Martina Hingis was the defending champion but lost in the semifinals to Jana Novotná, in a rematch of the previous year's final. Novotná defeated Nathalie Tauziat in the final, 6–4, 7–6 to win the Ladies' Singles tennis title"
"2011 Australian Open – Women's Singles Serena Williams was the two-time defending champion, but a foot injury during the middle of the 2010 season prevented her defending the title. Kim Clijsters won her first Australian Open title and her fourth (and last) Grand Slam overall by beating Li Na 3–6, 6–3, 6–3 in the final. Li became the first Asian player to make the final of a Grand Slam in singles. Though she lost in the final, she would go on to win the French Open a few months later. The fourth round match between Svetlana Kuznetsova and Francesca Schiavone,"
"the championships is Australian Samantha Stosur. Stosur reached 2 finals in the year, but failed to capture a title. She reached her first final of the year at the Qatar Total Open losing to top seed Victoria Azarenka 1–6, 2–6. She reached her second final at the Kremlin Cup losing to Caroline Wozniacki 2–6, 6–4, 5–7, despite leading 3–1 in the final set. She reached the semifinals of the French Open losing to Sara Errani 5–7, 6–1, 3–6. As the defending champion, she fell in the quarterfinals of the US Open losing to Azarenka 1–6, 6–4, 6–7. The second alternate"
"birth. The women's wildcard playoff was won by unseeded teen Maddison Inglis, who defeated newlywed Arina Rodionova in the final. NB: Kimberly Birrell was the number 5 seed, but withdrew prior to the commencement of play. For the first time in Australian Open history, the winner of the girls' 18/U Championships will receive a main draw wildcard into the 2016 Australian Open. The wildcard was won by top seed Priscilla Hon who defeated wildcard playoff winner Maddison Inglis in the final. NB: Kimberly Birrell was the number 2 seed. The 'Win a Wildcard' competition held by Tennis Australia allowed any"
"defeated compatriot and rival Kim Clijsters in the final to win her only Australian Open title. Roger Federer defeated Marat Safin, 7–6, 6–4, 6–2 Justine Henin-Hardenne defeated Kim Clijsters, 6–3, 4–6, 6–3 Michaël Llodra / Fabrice Santoro defeated Bob Bryan / Mike Bryan, 7–6, 6–3 Virginia Ruano / Paola Suárez defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova / Elena Likhovtseva, 6–4, 6–3 Elena Bovina / Nenad Zimonjić defeated Martina Navratilova / Leander Paes, 6–1, 7–6 Gaël Monfils defeated Josselin Ouanna, 6–0, 6–3 Shahar Pe'er defeated Nicole Vaidišová, 6–1, 6–4 Scott Oudsema / Brendan Evans defeated David Galić / David Jeflea, 6–1, 6–1 Chan Yung-jan"
"4–0 down. By winning the title, she set a record of 5 Australian Open titles in the Open Era. She won her second title at the Wimbledon Championships over Vera Zvonareva 6–3, 6–2. In doing so she passed Billie Jean King as sixth in total number of Grand Slam women's singles titles. At the French Open she lost to Samantha Stosur 6–3, 6–7, 8–6 after failing to convert a match point at 5–4 in the final set. Injuries plagued her throughout the season, missing three months of action after the Australian Open due to a leg injury and another four"
"victory she completed the ""Serena Slam"", despite being 1–5 down in the third set & facing two match points against Kim Clijsters in the semifinals. This was the first Australian Open final that did not feature Martina Hingis since 1996. This was notably the first Grand Slam appearances of two future World No. 1's: Five time Grand Slam Champion Maria Sharapova and Jelena Janković competed in the main draw, both lost to Klára Koukalová and Amanda Coetzer in the first and second rounds, respectively. It was also the Grand Slam main draw debut of future US Open champion Flavia Pennetta."