The Australian Open is an international tennis tournament typically held in Melbourne Park, Australia between Jan. 15 and Jan. 18. It serves as one of four Grand Slam tournaments (important international tennis tournaments which offer the most prize money, ranking points and media coverage). The other three tournaments are the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. The competition is split into five main events: men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles.

Men’s Singles –

Defending champion Roger Federer of Switzerland successfully defended his title against Croatian player Marin Čilić by scores of 6–2, 6–7, 6–3, 3–6 and 6–1. It was Federer’s 20th Grand Slam singles title and it made him the first male player to win at least six titles at two Grand Slam tournaments. It also marks 15 years between now and his first Grand slam title at Wimbledon, another Open record in this respective era.

“I think Roger Federer’s win is one of the most amazing feats across sporting history in general. We always see consistent greatness from him, and he just doesn’t seem to age. This is just another example of what a champion he is,” junior Dylan Carol said.

Women’s Singles –

Serena Williams, the defending champion of the Australian Open, chose not to compete this year after recently giving birth. This allowed 2018 champion Caroline Wozniacki to defeat rival Simona Halep in the championship, making her the only Danish player ever to win a women’s singles title in the Australian Open. The scores of the championship matches were  7–6, 3–6 and 6–4.

“Caroline Wozniacki has been a top tier player for the past twelve years and she has been called the best women player ever without a Grand Slam title. She’s also lost in so many finals in the past. I think she really stepped up to win this one. Furthermore, she also passed Halep as number one in the world, which is a big step in her career,” sophomore Christopher Brazda said.

Men’s Doubles –

The defending champions,  Radu Albot and Chung Hyeon, were quickly eliminated in the second round of play. Oliver Marach and Mate Pavić, representing Austria, defeated Colombian players Juan Sebastián Cabal and Robert Farah to win the 2018 men’s doubles.

Women’s Doubles –

With no defending champion to compete against, Tímea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic easily won the title, defeating Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina. The scores of the final matches were  6–4 and 6–3. Babos became the first Hungarian player to win a title in the Australian open since 1986. This marks the second time Mladenovic has won a Grand Slam event.

Mixed Doubles –

With the defending champions out of the way after the quarterfinals, Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Mate Pavić of Croatia defeated Tímea Babos and Rohan Bopanna in the championship matches. The scores of these matches were 6–2, 6–4 and 11–9. The two winners earned $175,000 in prize money from the enormous, and recently increased, total of $55 million awarded to Australian Open winners.

This year’s Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the 2018 season, was an extremely successful event. Many new records were set, especially in regards to Roger Federer continuing his long history of wins. Congratulations to all the winners!