From Aryna Sabalenka To Mirra Andreeva: 5 Women To Watch Out For At Australian Open 2025

World number one Aryna Sabalenka will be hot favourite to secure an Australian Open hat-trick, having won the past two years at Melbourne Park. In-form Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek are her biggest threats, but Zheng Qinwen could be primed for a Slam breakthrough after a stellar 2024, while emerging talent Mirra Andreeva could upset some top names. We highlight five women to watch at the first Grand Slam of the year starting on Sunday:

The Belarusian comes into the Australian Open on the back of the best year of her career in which she won the US Open as well as retaining her Melbourne Park crown.

The powerful 26-year-old also won in Cincinnati and at the WTA 1000 at Wuhan, her fourth title of the year, which helped her unseat Iga Swiatek as world number one.

The defending champion is unbeaten in Melbourne since 2022, when she lost in the third round to Marketa Vondrousova.

Sabalenka began 2025 by winning the Brisbane International, dropping only one set on the way to the title.

The 23-year-old Pole won her fourth French Open last year but ended 2024 under a doping cloud after serving a one-month ban.

Swiatek tested positive for the heart medication trimetazidine in an out-of-competition sample in August but the International Tennis Integrity Agency accepted that the violation was not intentional.

News of the saga only emerged in late November but Swiatek made a confident return in the mixed-teams United Cup in Sydney last week as Poland reached the final, losing only one of her five singles matches -- to Coco Gauff.

Swiatek's Australian Open record is patchy and she has only progressed beyond the fourth round once, in 2022, when she was stunned by Danielle Collins in the semi-finals.

Arguably the hottest player in women's