Australian Open: Previous women's winners

The Australian Open is just under three weeks away and the world's elite will be hoping to hit the ground running and claim bragging rights by winning the first Grand Slam of the season.

The 2024 tournament fires into action on Sunday, 14th January, and in the women's event Iga Swiatek, current world number 1 is 11/4 to land her fifth piece of Grand Slam silverware.

World number one Swiatek has yet to win the Melbourne major, having been beaten in last season's 4th round, and there are plenty of big names hoping to upstage the Pole by triumphing down under.

What: 2024 Australian Open
Where: Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia
When: Sunday 14th January - Sunday 28th January, 2024. 
How to watch: Discovery+, bet365 Sports Live Streaming
Odds: Iga Swiatek 11/4, Caroline Garcia 22/1, Aryna Sabalenka 9/2, Ons Jabeur 20/1, Coco Gauff 9/1, Naomi Osaka 11/1

Who won the 2023 Australian Open women's singles title?

Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, currently ranked second in the world, snatched the Melbourne title last year when making a comeback against Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina who currently sits in fourth place in the world rankings. 

Aryna Sabalenka had previously never achieved grand slam status prior to her winning the Australian Open last year, beating Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to take the title. 

The Belarusian champion made a huge comeback during her second and third sets to claim the Melbourne title and secure her first grand slam. 

This year, both Sabalenka and Rybakina are back to fight for the title.

However, there are both new and old faces being added to the mix with the return of grand slam winner Naomi Osaka as well as former world number 1 and 2018 Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki who was handed a wildcard for entry to the tournament. 

Who are the most successful women's Australian Open winners?

Margaret Court is the most decorated female player of all-time at the Australian Open, with the Perth native taking her home title on 11 occasions.

Only four of those came in the Open Era, however, with Court's final success in 1973 coming 13 years after her first.

In recent years, the phenomenon that is Serena Williams has dominated the Australian Open, winning it seven times from 2003 to 2017.

Of the players still competing on the WTA Tour, Victoria Azarenka and Naomi Osaka are both multiple winners having each won the Australian Open twice. It is also anticipated that Osaka will make her return debut at the 2024 Australian Open having pulled out of the 2023 tournament.

Brilliant Belarusian Azarenka is 40/1 to claim a hat-trick of Australian Open wins in January, while Japanese superstar Osaka is a 16/1 chance.

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What are the biggest shocks in women's Australian Open history?

The last two winners of the Australian Open - Sabalenka earlier this year in 2023 and Barty in 2022 - were both prominent in the betting, but there have been some big surprises in recent times.

In 2020, American ace Sofia Kenin came from a set down to upstage two-time major winner Garbine Muguruza in Melbourne.

The then 21-year-old had been a 66/1 shot pre-tournament, but seemed unfazed by the occasion and went on to finish runner-up at the French Open later that season.

Kenin has struggled to reproduce those heroics since, though, and is 40/1 to emulate those achievements next month.

Other notable surprises include Angelique Kerber's 50/1 success in 2016, when the German overcame reigning champion Serena Williams in an epic three-setter to claim the first of her three Grand Slam crowns.

In 2014, fourth seed Li Na, who had been available at 18/1 before a ball was served and was previously twice a runner-up, outclassed a 375/1 pre-tournament chance in Dominika Cibulkova to take the title.

Who are the other previous winners of the women's Australian Open?

Due to its place at the beginning of the season, the world's leading stars tend to come to the fore at the Australian Open, with 15 of the last 16 winners of the women's event seeded seventh or lower.

2020 champion Kenin is the only exception to the curve as she was seeded 14 and even when Caroline Wozniacki was crowned champion in 2018 she was seeded second.

Wozniacki defeated then world number one Simona Halep in that final, meaning that after Barty's success last year the top seed has made the title decider in five of the previous ten editions. Swiatek will be hoping that trend continues in January.

Jennifer Capriati, Serena Williams, Azarenka and Osaka have all been multiple winners of the event since 2001, but there have also been notable successes for Justine Henin (2004), Amelie Mauresmo (2006), Maria Sharapova (2008) and Kim Clijsters (2011).