Draws, dates, prize money and what you need to know

The Australian Open ushers in the 2025 Grand Slam season.

The stars of the Hologic WTA Tour have already been honing their craft in Australia and New Zealand throughout this month, and they will converge upon Melbourne next week for the year’s first major.

At the 113th edition of the event, the singles champion will bolster her resume with one of the crown jewels of the tennis calendar — and earn 2,000 PIF Ranking points and $3.5 million dollars to boot.

Here are the key facts surrounding the Grand Slam of the Asia-Pacific region:

When does the tournament start?

Start clearing your schedule now. For the second year in a row, the Australian Open will begin on a Sunday and take place over 15 days.

Main-draw singles action kicks off on Sunday, Jan. 12 at 11:30 a.m. local time. Melbourne is on Australian Eastern Daylight Time (GMT +11, EST +16) — so that is a Saturday night start in the Americas.

Women’s doubles play will start on Tuesday, Jan. 14, and mixed doubles action will commence on Thursday, Jan. 16.

Qualifying began on Monday, Jan. 6 and will wrap up Thursday, Jan. 9.

The Dunlop Australian Open ball will be used for this year’s entire outdoor, hard-court Aussie swing, including at the Australian Open.

When are the draws?

The women’s doubles main draw will come out on Saturday, Jan. 11 at 3 p.m. The mixed doubles draw will be unveiled on Tuesday, Jan. 14 at 6 p.m.

When are the finals?

• Women’s Singles final: Saturday, Jan. 25 at 7:30 p.m.
• Women’s Doubles final: Sunday, Jan. 26 at 3 p.m.
• Mixed Doubles final: Friday, Jan. 24 at 12 noon

Who are the defending champions?

Aryna Sabalenka won her second straight Australian Open title last year. Sabalenka did not drop a set for the entire fortnight and defeated Zheng Qinwen 6-3, 6-2 in the final, kicking off her World No.1 season in 2024.

Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens won last year’s Australian Open women’s doubles title, defeating Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko 6-1, 7-5 in the final. It was Hsieh’s first Australian Open women’s doubles title, and Mertens’ second (Mertens and Sabalenka won the 2021 doubles title).

Hsieh also teamed with Jan Zielinski to win the 2024 Australian Open mixed doubles title. They saved a championship point and squeaked past Desirae Krawczyk and Neal Skupski 6-7(5), 6-4, [11-9] in the final. It was Hsieh and Zielinski’s first Slam title in mixed — and they repeated the feat at 2024 Wimbledon.

What are some of the key storylines?

• Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka will be seeking her third straight Australian Open singles title. The last woman to collect three singles titles in a row in Melbourne was Martina Hingis, who prevailed in 1997, 1998 and 1999.
• No.2 Iga Swiatek will try again to claim her first Australian Open title, after steering Poland to their second straight United Cup final at the start of the month. So far, only one of Swiatek’s five Grand Slam titles has come on hard court (2022 US Open).
• Coco Gauff, the World No.3, will try to maintain sterling form and capture her second Grand Slam title. Gauff has hoisted the trophy at her last two events, winning the WTA Finals at the end of last year and leading the United States to last week’s United Cup title.
• World No.4 Jasmine Paolini will aim for her third Grand Slam final in the past year, and her first on hard court. Last year, Paolini made major finals on clay (Roland Garros) and grass (Wimbledon).
• Zheng Qinwen will attempt to go one further than she did last year. The current World No.5 made her first Grand Slam final in Melbourne last year, and she went on to have a career-best season, peaking with the Olympic gold medal in Paris.

What do the fields look like?

The singles main draw has 128 players (including 16 qualifiers and eight wild cards), with 32 seeded players and no byes.

There are 64 teams in the women’s doubles draw (including up to seven wild-card teams), with 16 seeded teams and no byes.

There are 32 teams in the mixed doubles draw (including up to eight wild-card teams) with eight seeded teams and no byes.

Former Australian Open champions contesting this year’s singles main draw include Victoria Azarenka (2012-2013), Naomi Osaka (2019, 2021), Sofia Kenin (2020) and Aryna Sabalenka (2023-2024).

Main-draw withdrawals include reigning Wimbledon champion and World No.10 Barbora Krejcikova, former World No.1 Karolina Pliskova and 2018 Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki.

Here are key stats for the Top 10 seeds:

1. Aryna Sabalenka
Age: 26 | Career singles titles: 18
Career main-draw win-loss record at Australian Open: 22-5
Best Australian Open result: Champion (2023, 2024)
Last Australian Open result: Champion (2024)

2. Iga Swiatek
Age: 23 | Career singles titles: 22
Career main-draw win-loss record at Australian Open: 17-6
Best Australian Open result: Semifinals (2022)
Last Australian Open result: 3rd round (2024)

3. Coco Gauff
Age: 20 | Career singles titles: 10
Career main-draw win-loss record at Australian Open: 12-5
Best Australian Open result: Semifinals (2024)
Last Australian Open result: Semifinals (2024)

4. Jasmine Paolini
Age: 29 | Career singles titles: 2
Career main-draw win-loss record at Australian Open: 3-5
Best Australian Open result: Round of 16 (2024)
Last Australian Open result: Round of 16 (2024)

5. Zheng Qinwen
Age: 22 | Career singles titles: 5
Career main-draw win-loss record at Australian Open: 8-3
Best Australian Open result: Finalist (2024)
Last Australian Open result: Finalist (2024)

6. Elena Rybakina
Age: 25 | Career singles titles: 8
Career main-draw win-loss record at Australian Open: 11-5
Best Australian Open result: Finalist (2023)
Last Australian Open result: 2nd round (2024)

7. Jessica Pegula
Age: 30 | Career singles titles: 6
Career main-draw win-loss record at Australian Open: 13-5
Best Australian Open result: Quarterfinals (2021, 2022, 2023)
Last Australian Open result: 2nd round (2024)

8. Emma Navarro
Age: 23 | Career singles titles: 1
Career main-draw win-loss record at Australian Open: 2-1
Best Australian Open result: 3rd round (2024)
Last Australian Open result: 3rd round (2024)

9. Daria Kasatkina
Age: 27 | Career singles titles: 8
Career main-draw win-loss record at Australian Open: 7-9
Best Australian Open result: 3rd round (2016, 2022)
Last Australian Open result: 2nd round (2024)

10. Danielle Collins
Age: 31 | Career singles titles: 4
Career main-draw win-loss record at Australian Open: 16-6
Best Australian Open result: Finalist (2022)
Last Australian Open result: 2nd round (2024)

What are the ranking points and prize money on offer in the singles main draw?

First round: 10 points | $132,000
Second round: 70 points | $200,000
Third round: 130 points | $290,000
Round of 16: 240 points | $420,000
Quarterfinals: 430 points | $665,000
Semifinals: 780 points | $1,100,000
Finalist: 1300 points | $1,900,000
Champion: 2000 points | $3,500,000

*Prize money is in Australian dollars

How has the Aussie swing played out so far?

United Cup (WTA 500): United States def. Poland
Brisbane (WTA 500): Aryna Sabalenka def. Polina Kudermetova
Auckland, New Zealand (WTA 250): Clara Tauson def. Naomi Osaka
Canberra (WTA 125): Aoi Ito def. Wei Sijia

Adelaide (WTA 500): In progress — Scores | Schedule | Draws
Hobart (WTA 250): In progress — Scores | Schedule | Draws

Australian swing 411: Dates, draws, prize money and facts you need to know