Caroline Wozniacki defeated Simona Halep in the final, 7–6(7–2), 3–6, 6–4 to win the women's singles tennis title at the 2018 Australian Open. It was her first major title, becoming the first Dane to win a singles major. With the win, Wozniacki regained the world No. 1 singles ranking for the first time since 2012. She saved two match points en route to the title, in the second round against Jana Fett; Halep also saved match points to reach the final, saving three against Lauren Davis in the third round and two against Angelique Kerber in the semifinals. It was Halep's third runner-up finish in as many major finals, though she would win the French Open a few months later. In addition to Wozniacki and Halep, Garbiñe Muguruza, Elina Svitolina, Karolína Plíšková and Jeļena Ostapenko were in contention for the world No. 1 ranking. The final marked the first match between the top two players in the world since the 2015 Australian Open final.

Serena Williams was the reigning champion, but did not participate this year as she was not fully fit after giving birth in September 2017. As a result, she dropped out of the WTA rankings for the first time since 20 October 1997.

The third-round match between Halep and Davis lasted 28 games, tying Chanda Rubin and Arantxa Sánchez Vicario's 1996 quarterfinal match for the Australian Open's record for most games played in 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 a major since Mirjana Lučić-Baroni at the 1997 US Open. Kostyuk was the youngest player to qualify for a major main draw since Sesil Karatantcheva at the 2005 Australian Open.

This tournament marked the first main-draw Australian Open appearance for future two-time champion and World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka; she lost to Ashleigh Barty in the first round.

Seeds

Qualifying

Wildcards

Draw

Finals

Top half

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Section 4

Bottom half

Section 5

Section 6

Section 7

Section 8

Championship match statistics Category Wozniacki Halep 1st serve % 59/102 (58%) 71/116 (61%) 1st serve points won39 of 59 = 66% 46 of 71 = 65% 2nd serve points won22 of 43 = 51% 21 of 45 = 47% Total service points won61 of 102 = 59.80% 67 of 116 = 57.76% Aces 26 Double faults 6 1 Winners 25 40 Unforced errors28 47 Net points won 11 of 17 = 65% 11 of 12 = 92% Break points converted 5 of 14 = 36% 5 of 12 = 42% Return points won 49 of 116 = 42% 41 of 102 = 40% Total points won 110 108Source

References

External links Draw 2018 Australian Open – Women's draws and results at the International Tennis Federation