World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka tops the official main-draw entry list for the 2025 Australian Open, where she will be aiming to lift the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup for a third consecutive year.
Two-time defending champion Sabalenka is bidding to become the first woman to win the Australian Open three years in a row since Martina Hingis in 1997-99. She is one of five former Australian Open winners on the entry list, along with Victoria Azarenka (2012, 2013), Naomi Osaka (2019, 2021), Caroline Wozniacki (2018) and Sofia Kenin (2020)
Eight further Grand Slam titlists take the total to 13: World No.2 and reigning Roland Garros champion Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina, reigning Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova, Jelena Ostapenko, Marketa Vondrousova, Emma Raducanu and Sloane Stephens.
The entire Top 98 in the PIF WTA Rankings of the week commencing Dec. 2 are on the initial entry list. Six players have entered using special rankings: former Olympic gold medallist Belinda Bencic (No.15), Caty McNally (No.71), Julia Grabher (No.73), Jodie Burrage (No.85), Zheng Saisai (No.89) and Danka Kovinic (No.95).
The first 15 alternates to the main draw in case of any withdrawals are as follows:
1. Nuria Parrizas Diaz
2. Yuliia Starodubtseva
3. Rebecca Marino
4. Harriet Dart
5. Alycia Parks
6. Sara Errani
7. Sara Sorribes Tormo
8. Daria Saville
9. Robin Montgomery
10. Ajla Tomljanovic
11. Viktorija Golubic
12. Ysaline Bonaventure (using a special ranking of No.109)
13. Anna Karolina Schmiedlova
14. Chloe Paquet
15. Anastasia Zakharova
Two out of eight wild cards have already been determined. No.211-ranked Zhang Shuai, a quarterfinalist in 2016, won the Asia-Pacific Wild Card Play-Off in Chengdu last week. Former World No.22 Zhang defeated Chinese compatriot Guo Hanyu 7-6(2), 0-6, 7-5 in the final.
Junior No.3 Iva Jovic, 17, has received the USTA’s reciprocal wild card after winning 14 out of 16 matches on the ITF World Tour in September and October, including titles at the Berkeley ITF W35 and Rancho Santa Fe ITF W75 as well as a runner-up showing at the Tyler ITF W100. Jovic, the reigning Australian Open girls’ doubles champion alongside Tyra Caterina Grant, turned heads on her senior Grand Slam debut with an upset of Magda Linette at the US Open. The American teenager is now ranked at a career high of No.194.
