Australian Open 2025: Form guide for the women's singles in Melbourne

• Sabalenka 11/53.20 aims for Aussie three-peat

• Gauff 7/24.50 ready to claim second career Slam

• Can young Mirra 22/123.00 cause a stir Down Under?

Aryna Sabalenka 12/53.40 arrives at Melbourne Park hoping to become the first woman in 26 years to win three successive singles titles at the Australian Open.

This feat was last achieved by Martina Hingis between 1997 and 1999, and the current world No 1 is almost certain to start the 2025 tournament as the outright favourite to defend her title once again.

The 26-year-old Belarusian was the dominant player last year, deservedly taking over from Poland's Iga Swiatek as the world No 1.

While Swiatek remains the 'Queen of Clay', Sabalenka is clearly top of the class on hard court. She's reached the last four Grand Slam finals on hard court, winning three of them and losing the other in three sets.

And her Slam victories last year in Melbourne and New York were secured in impressive fashion. She won all seven of her Australian Open matches in straight sets, and was only once taken to a tie-break Down Under.

At the American Slam in 2024 she lost just one set in 15, and ended 2024 with a brace of other hardcourt titles too.

Sabalenka warmed up for Melbourne by winning the year-opening event in Brisbane.

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So who are Sabalenka's main rivals these next two weeks?

Cori Gauff 9/25.50: The world No 3 will feel disappointed at her Grand Slam performances in 2024, despite a solid year which yielded three WTA Tour titles. When defending her US Open crown in New York, she fell in round four (Last 16) but ended the season strongly by winning two indoor tournaments during autumn. This included the prestigious WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia.

Iga Swiatek 9/25.50: Between April 2022 and October 2024, the Polish player topped the world ranking for 125 of 133 weeks. Although she is no longer No 1, she remains the deserved No 2 following another strong year in 2024. She claimed her fifth career Slam at Roland Garros in June, and collected five WTA Tour titles in all. Her big disappointment was missing out on Gold at the Olympic Games in Paris where she had to settle for a Bronze medal on her favourite surface clay.

Elena Rybakina 15/28.50: The world No 6 from Kazakhstan will probably feel disappointed by last year's results in the Grand Slams. The Wimbledon champion from 2022 was in pole position to repeat her success on grass, after reaching the semi-finals once again. At this stage she was the highest-ranked (4) player left in the tournament but, despite taking the opening set, was beaten by the No 31 seed Barbora Krejcikova who went on to win the tournament. A losing finalist in Melbourne two years ago, the 25-year-old Rybakina ended 2024 with three WTA Tour titles (Brisbane, Abu Dhabi, Stuttgart) to her name.

Qinwen Zheng 12/113.00: Last year's Australian Open finalist who ended 2024 as the world No 5. The 22-year-old from China was also the runner-up at the season-ending WTA Finals in Riyadh where she lost a tie-break in the deciding set. The highlight of her year was winning Olympic Gold in Paris where she recovered from match-point down against Emma Navarro in the Last 16, before beating the favourite Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals.

Mirra Andreeva 25/126.00: The teenage Russian has travelled quickly up the World Ranking to reach No 15 in time for the Australian Open. She is probably more likely to win this year on clay, having reached the semi-finals in Paris last June, but cannot be ruled out these next two weeks. She started 2025 by reaching the semi-finals in Brisbane where she was beaten by Sabalenka.

Jessica Pegula 55/156.00: The 30-year-old American had been a top-10 player for a number of years, without reaching the semi-finals of any Grand Slam. She'd lost in six Slam quarter-finals, before finally overcoming this hoodoo by beating Iga Swiatek in New York where she made it all the way to the final. She eventually lost to Aryna Sabalenka going down 7-5 7-5, following a spirited performance in the title decider.

Emma Navarro 55/156.00: One of the surprise packages of last year. The American began 2024 outside the world's top 30 but is now the No 8. At Wimbledon and Flushing Meadows she ended the challenge of Cori Gauff in the Last 16 of both events, and failed to convert a match point against the eventual Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng in Paris. A quarter-finalist at Wimbledon, she travelled one round further in New York where she was beaten by Aryna Sabalenka.

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