Women's Tennis : 5 greatest Australian Open finals

The last of the 4 Grand Slams to host the Women's Singles Championships was the Australian Open. It did so in 1922, almost three decades after the other Grand Slams did so. The winner of the Australian Open Women's Singles Trophy takes home a replica of the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Trophy named in honor of the great former champion who won the title 5 times.

Australian tennis great Margaret Court has won the trophy a record 11 times and American Serena Williams has won lifted the trophy 7 times till date. Serena Williams has most remarkably won the title on 4 occasions without dropping a single set.

Athletes from 13 different countries have lifted the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup. Our focus is on 5 of the greatest Women's Singles finals played at the Australian Open in the Open Era :

#5 Margaret Court vs Evonne Goolagong Cawley (1971)

Margaret Court Smith - 24-time Grand Slam Singles champion

9-time Champion Margaret Court Smith was defending her title at the Australian Open of 1971 and was looking to become the first woman in history to win 10 Grand Slam titles in a single Grand Slam competition. Her main challenger was compatriot Evonne Goolagong Cawley who was 9 years her junior. The pair were seeded one and two respectively.

It was fitting that they would meet in the final. The final was an all-time classic. Goolagong Cawley took the first set and looked to win the match of her life against the 9-time champion. Margaret Court who was close to 30 drew all her experience against her younger opponent and pegged back by levelling the match by taking the second set in a tie-break. Court saved break points in the second set as Goolagong failed to make use of the opportunity. The third set was extremely close and all Court needed was a single break of serve to win her 10th Australian Open title. The scoreline read 2–6, 7–6(7–0), 7–5 in Court's favor.

#4 Jennifer Capriati vs Martina Hingis (2002)

Jennifer Capriati with the 2002 Australian Open trophy

The 2002 Australian Open final between Jennifer Capriati and Martina Hingis was one for the ages as Jennifer Capriati looked to make a bold statement in her comeback.

After facing some personal issues, hugely talented American Jennifer Capriati was looking to rise to the top of the WTA rankings.

Her Australian Open victory in 2001 would have been a fairytale ending in itself, but Capriati wanted more than just one victory. The 2002 final was a repeat of the 2001 final with Hingis looking to win the Australian Open for the second time after facing two back-to-back losses in the previous two years.

Hingis took the first set 6-4 after breaking the Capriati serve at 5-4. With both players given a 10-minute break during the second set to cool themselves using ice packs to cope with the sweltering heat, tempers started to rise following linesman’s call which saw Capriati launch a series of verbal volleys against the line judge.

Eventually Capriati was able to hold her nerve and recovered to break the Hingis serve twice in the third set to clinch a 4-6, 7-6 (7), 6-2 victory and grab her second Australian Open trophy.

#3 Martina Navratilova vs Chris Evert (1981)

Martina Navratilova

Two legends who each won 18 Grand Slam Singles titles each, Americans Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova faced each other 45 times during their career. Many of those encounters were well and truly memorable and it would be really difficult to pick 1 or 2 of their best matches. In mid-1980, Navratilova had acquired the citizenship of United States of America.

Evert was the No 1-ranked player in the world and the top-seed going into the tournament, but Navratilova was her biggest challenger.

After losing the first set, Navratilova clawed back in remarkable fashion, bulldozing her opponent in the second and taking a comfortable 5-1 lead in the third. But somehow Evert found a way back, playing some of her best tennis when she needed it the most and won four games in succession to level the score at 5 all. But Navratilova is no ordinary champion and Evert learnt this the hard way as Navratilova did not let the momentum swing perturb her as she took the next two games to take the match 6-7, 6-4, 7-5.

#2 Monica Seles vs Steffi Graf (1993)

1993 Australian Open Champion Monica Seles

The rivalry between Steffi Graf and Monica Seles was possibly the best rivalry in tennis during the 1990's

Going into the 1993 Australian Open, Seles had superseded Graf as the World No 1 and consequently was the top-seed after wining 6 of the previous 7 Grand Slam tournaments. Her only defeat against Graf prior to the final of the Australian Open of 1993 came at the All England Club in 1992. It was the 19-year-old Monica Seles who prevailed over her opponent Graf courtesy of a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory.

The pivotal point of the match came in the 6th game of the 3rd set. With Graf serving at 2-3, 30-0, Seles produced an amazing cross-court forehand that landed on the line for a winner. Graf fended off two break points in that game, but Seles did get the service break, then won the final two games to take the match and the Championship.

#1 Serena Williams vs Venus Williams (2003)

Venus Williams and Serena Williams at the 2003 Australian Open

The Williams sisters dominated women's tennis in the early part of the 2000's and the 2003 Australian Open was one of the many memorable matches that they played during this period.

They were meeting in the finals of a Grand Slam tournament for the fourth straight time at the 2003 Australian Open, with Serena Williams emerging victorious over her sister Venus in straight sets in the finals of the 2002 French Open, 2002 Wimbledon and 2002 U.S. Open. Serena beat Venus yet again in the 2003 Australian Open final to become the fifth woman in history to hold all four major titles at the same time. This was later labelled by the media as 'The Serena Slam'.

The Williams sisters displayed their powerful brand of free-flowing attacking tennis engaged in powerful duels from the baseline matched with exceptional serving from both sides. Unlike their previous three Grand Slam meetings, Venus was able to match her sister shot for shot, and neither were able to gain a grip of the encounter. Venus couldn't close out the first set while serving at 5-4 and Serena won the tiebreak 7-4. Venus leveled things in the second set and was facing an uphill task at 3-4 in the third set. Saving 5 break points, she held on to her serve and made it 4-4. But Serena immediately broke back in her next service game to take the set 6-4. Serena didn't have to do anything much to win the decisive break as a series of unforced errors from Venus handed Serena the title.