2018 Australian Open – Women's singles final


The 2018 Australian Open Women's Singles final was the championship tennis match of the Women's Singles tournament at the 2018 Australian Open. It was contested between the world's top two players, Simona Halep and Caroline Wozniacki, then ranked first and second in the world respectively. They had both been world number one without winning a Grand Slam title, and they had also both lost two Grand Slam finals each. The winner would win her first Grand Slam title, alongside the world number one ranking for the week starting 29 January 2018.
Wozniacki defeated Halep in three sets in two hours and 49 minutes, with the match finishing shortly before 10:30 pm local time, to become the first Dane in men's or women's singles to win a Grand Slam, and the first Danish player to win the Australian Open.

Match

Background

The match began at 7:30 pm local time. Marijana Veljović of Serbia was the chair umpire for the match, overseeing the biggest match of her umpiring career.

First set

Wozniacki won the pre-match coin toss and elected to serve first. She held her first service game, then broke Halep and quickly got a 3-0 lead. Wozniacki then attempted to serve for the opening set at 5–3, but was broken; Halep then pegged it back to 5–5, and they both held serve to let a tiebreak decide the set. Wozniacki won the first two points, and went on to win the tiebreak 7–2.

Second set

Halep served first in the second set and held to 30, then Wozniacki held to love. In the next game, Halep saved four break points to claim a 2–1 lead. The next 3 games would see no break points, and at 3–3, Halep held serve, broke and won the second set after saving three break points when serving for the set, winning it 6–3. The match score was now tied at one set apiece, meaning a third set would be required to decide the title.

Third set

The third set had the most breaks of serve. Wozniacki won the first game, after being down 0-30. In the next game Halep led 30-0, but lost her serve on Wozniacki’s first break point opportunity. Wozniacki would serve to get a 3–0 lead, but Halep broke back, despite Wozniacki saving the first 5 break points. Wozniacki broke to 0 in the next game, but Halep then broke to 15, to make the score 3–2 for Wozniacki. Halep then won her service game, and broke Wozniacki again to get a 4–3 lead, then served for what would have been a 5–3 lead. But Halep lost her serve, despite saving the first break point, leaving the set tied at 4-4. Wozniacki then held serve to lead 5–4, leaving Halep to serve to stay in the match. Despite Halep leading 30-15, Wozniacki won two points in a row to reach championship point at 40-30. Wozniacki won the point, the match and the championship, after Halep hit a backhand into the net.

Statistics