Seniors There were five competitions open to professional tennis players. The
Association of Tennis Professionals and
Women's Tennis Association awarded ranking points in all events apart from the mixed doubles. The singles draws were contested by one hundred and twenty eight players, while sixty four teams partook in the doubles events, and thirty two teams lined up in the mixed doubles competition.
Men's singles won his first Australian Open title in a tournament filled with numerous upsets. With World No. 1
Pete Sampras absent, along with World No. 2 and last year's finalist
Marcelo Ríos, the No. 1 spot was thought to be up for grabs coming into this year's Australian Open.
Andre Agassi was considered the favourite, having won the 1995 Australian Open and having what was thought to be an easy path to the semifinals,
Carlos Moyá being the only player considered to be a threat to him.
Patrick Rafter was also considered a favourite, despite having in-form players
Thomas Enqvist and
Mark Philippoussis in his path.
Àlex Corretja was another possibility to claim the No. 1 spot, being the World No. 3 and only a third round appearance to defend. With Ríos' withdrawal, Àlex Corretja was the top seed at No. 2, with US Open champion Patrick Rafter, French Open champion Carlos Moyá and Andre Agassi following.
Tim Henman, last year's semifinalist
Karol Kučera,
Greg Rusedski,
Richard Krajicek and
Yevgeny Kafelnikov made up the rest of the top 10 seeds. Despite being the defending champion,
Petr Korda was not seeded as he was outside the Top 17. The first round saw the first upset of the tournament, with Moyá falling to World No. 37
Nicolas Kiefer in four sets. 12th seed
Albert Costa, 13th seed
Cédric Pioline and 16th seed
Thomas Johansson also fell in the first round. Corretja, 15th seed
Todd Martin and Korda all survived five set encounters. The second round saw the end of Corretja's No. 1 dreams as went down in four sets to World No. 86
Christian Ruud. Rusedski was also the victim of an upset, falling to qualifier
Paul Goldstein also in four sets. The third round saw further upsets, as Rafter fell in four sets to Enqvist, Henman went down to Swiss
Marc Rosset in three, and Krajicek went down to
Wayne Ferreira in five. The third round also saw the end of Korda, falling to Martin in five sets; and Kafelnikov survive an encounter with 1992 and 1993 champion
Jim Courier, Courier having retired in the fourth set. The fourth round saw Martin, Kafelnikov and Kučera being the only seeds to progress to the quarterfinals. 14th seed
Mark Philippoussis fell to Enqvist, and Agassi was defeated by World No. 44
Vincent Spadea in four sets. Unseeded players Tommy Haas, Nicolás Lapentti and Marc Rosset also progressed. The quarterfinals saw the end of Martin, being defeated by Kafelnikov in three sets. It also saw Haas defeating Spadea, and Enqvist continuing his good form against Rosset. The quarterfinals also witnessed the end of Kučera, being defeated in a five-set contest against Lapentti. This meant that Sampras would not be forfeiting his No. 1 ranking as previously predicted. The semifinals saw the final seed in the draw, Kafelnikov, progressing past Haas in three sets to reach his first Grand Slam final since 1996. His opponent was Enqvist, who also passed to the final in three sets, defeating Lapentti. The final saw Enqvist win the first set, before Kafelnikov came back to take the next three. Kafelnikov's ranking rose to No. 3 following this tournament, and he became the first Russian tennis player to win the Australian Open.
Championship match result Yevgeny Kafelnikov defeated
Thomas Enqvist, 4–6, 6–0, 6–3, 7–6(7–1)
Women's singles The seeds of the 1999 Australian Open were led by the previous year's Grand Slam champions. US Open champion
Lindsay Davenport was the first seed, Australian Open champion
Martina Hingis came second, Wimbledon champion
Jana Novotná was third and French Open champion
Arantxa Sánchez Vicario was fourth. Following behind came
Venus Williams, four-time Australian Open champion
Monica Seles, 1995 Australian Open champion
Mary Pierce,
Patty Schnyder, last year's Australian Open finalist
Conchita Martínez, and four-time Australian Open winner
Steffi Graf.
Dominique Van Roost,
Anna Kournikova,
Irina Spîrlea,
Sandrine Testud,
Natasha Zvereva and
Amanda Coetzer were also seeded. The first round of the women's singles saw every seed go through except for 13th seed Irina Spîrlea, who lost to former finalist and last year's semifinalist
Anke Huber, 7–5, 6–4. There was a scare, however, for 5th seed Venus Williams, who dropped the first set to World No. 82 Croatian
Silvija Talaja, 3–6, and was struggling through the third; at one point being two points away from defeat. However, in the end, she managed to survive, winning, 3–6, 6–3, 9–7. The second round was the setting for the first major upset of the tournament when 4th seed and two-time finalist Arantxa Sánchez Vicario fell easily to the World No. 24
Barbara Schett, 6–2, 6–2. 8th seed Patty Schnyder also fell in the second round to teenage Frenchwoman and World No. 29,
Amélie Mauresmo, 6–7(1–7), 6–4, 6–3. The third round saw 15th seed Natasha Zvereva fall to
Chanda Rubin in three sets, last year's finalist and 9th seed Conchita Martínez go down in three sets to
Émilie Loit in what was Loit's first Top 10 victory, and another major upset when 3rd seed Jana Novotná lost to Spaniard
María Sánchez Lorenzo, 6–3, 6–0. 14th seed Sandrine Testud was almost the victim of another upset, but she saved two match points against her opponent
Serena Williams and defeated her, 6–2, 2–6, 9–7. The third round also saw the end of home dreams, when Aussies
Nicole Pratt and
Jelena Dokić both fell to Amélie Mauresmo and Martina Hingis respectively. The fourth round saw an easy progression for the World No. 1 Lindsay Davenport over the last qualifier remaining, Canadian
Maureen Drake. Fellow Americans Venus Williams and Monica Seles also had easy wins; as did Steffi Graf, Mary Pierce and Dominique Van Roost. Defending champion Martina Hingis lost the second set to Amanda Coetzer, but came back to easily take the third, 6–1. The final spot in the quarterfinals was decided by an all-French match between Émilie Loit and Amélie Mauresmo. Mauresmo won the first set without losing a game, and then went on to win the second set, 7–5, despite a valiant effort from Loit. The quarterfinals saw Davenport easily defeat Williams, Hingis breeze through Pierce, and Seles coming back from 4–5 down in the first set to defeat Graf, 7–5, 6–1, which would be the last match in their
rivalry which Seles won; and her only post-stabbing victory over Graf. Surprise quarterfinalist Mauresmo continued her momentum, causing another upset by defeating Van Roost in two sets. In the semifinals, Mauresmo went on to cause the biggest upset of the tournament, by defeating the World No. 1 Davenport in three sets, 4–6, 7–5, 7–5, despite Davenport leading 4–2 in the third set. On the other side, Martina Hingis reached her third consecutive Australian Open final, having defeating Monica Seles, 6–2, 6–4, and restricting Seles' Open Era record for an Australian Open winning streak made by a woman to 33. In the final, Hingis defeated Mauresmo in straight sets, 6–2, 6–3. With this win, Hingis joined
Margaret Court,
Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles as the only women to have won three consecutive Australian Open titles.
Championship match result Martina Hingis defeated
Amélie Mauresmo, 6–2, 6–3
Men's doubles successfully defended his Australian Open doubles title. Last year's double star and defending champion
Jacco Eltingh retired at the end of the previous year, so his former partner
Jonas Björkman teamed up with countryman
Patrick Rafter as the fifth seed. The other top seeds were "Indian Express" (
Mahesh Bhupathi and
Leander Paes) at No. 1, the "Woodies" (
Todd Woodbridge and
Mark Woodforde) at No. 2,
Mark Knowles and
Daniel Nestor at No. 3, and
Ellis Ferreira and
Rick Leach at No. 4. Former Eltingh partner
Paul Haarhuis teamed up with
Patrick Galbraith to make the sixth seeded team. Frenchmen
Olivier Delaître and
Fabrice Santoro were No. 7; and
Sébastien Lareau and
Alex O'Brien came at No. 8. The first round saw half of the No. 9 to No. 16 seeds fall; and Lareau and O'Brien joining them. Knowles and Nestor fell in the second round, and Delaître and Santoro went out in the third round. Apart from those casualties, however, all of the Top 8 made the quarterfinals. Also in the quarterfinals were Americans
Richey Reneberg and
Jonathan Stark,
Gustavo Kuerten and
Nicolás Lapentti; and tenth seeds
Yevgeny Kafelnikov and
Daniel Vacek. Kuerten and Lapentti withdrew from the quarterfinals due to Lapentti's unexpected run to the semifinals of the singles competition. As such, Björkman and Rafter (who would've been their opponents) got an effective bye to the semifinals of the doubles. First seeds Bhupathi and Paes joined them, after triumphing over Reneberg and Stark; second seeds Woodbridge and Woodforde followed, defeating Kafelnikov and Vacek; and fourth seeds Ferreira and Leach also went through, defeating Galbraith and Haarhuis. Bhupathi and Paes easily defeated Ferreira and Leach, 7–6(7–1), 6–3, 7–6(7–5) to end up in the final, where they were joined by Björkman and Rafter; who came back from two sets down to defeat the Woodies, 3–6, 4–6, 6–2, 6–2, 8–6. The final of the men's doubles ended up also going to five sets after Bhupathi and Paes won a very close tiebreaker in the fourth (12–10). However, Björkman and Rafter took out the fifth set 6–4 to claim Björkman's second and Rafter's only Grand Slam doubles title.
Championship match result Jonas Björkman /
Patrick Rafter defeated
Mahesh Bhupathi /
Leander Paes, 6–3, 4–6, 6–4, 6–7(10–12), 6–4
Women's doubles (left) and
Martina Hingis (right) won their first Grand Slam as a team. With none of the teams present having won a Grand Slam doubles title together, the competition was wide open.
Lindsay Davenport and
Natasha Zvereva were the first seeds, having lost in the finals of all the Grand Slams last year.
Lisa Raymond and
Rennae Stubbs followed them as the second seed, while last year's doubles star and defending champion
Martina Hingis and her new doubles partner
Anna Kournikova were the third seed. Veterans
Larisa Neiland and
Arantxa Sánchez Vicario teamed up to make the fourth seed, while
Elena Likhovtseva and
Ai Sugiyama came in at No. 5.
Conchita Martínez and
Patricia Tarabini;
Mariaan de Swardt and
Elena Tatarkova; and
Irina Spîrlea and
Caroline Vis were the rest of the top eight seeds. Hingis' former doubles partner and fellow defending champion
Mirjana Lučić teamed up with
Mary Pierce as the sixteenth seed. The first round saw one major casualty in Martínez and Tarabini, who fell to wildcards
Jelena Dokić and
Åsa Carlsson. The first round also saw a quick end to Lučić and Pierce, who fell in straight sets to
Christina Singer and
Helena Vildová. The second round saw the fall of Likhovtseva and Sugiyama, and Spîrlea and Vis. The only major casualty of the third round was de Swardt and Tatarkova. All the top three seeds made it to the semifinals, and they were joined by the up-and-coming
Williams sisters, who defeated Neiland and Sánchez Vicario en route. Davenport and Zvereva defeated the Williams sisters to reach the final, in what is their fifth consecutive Grand Slam final; and Davenport's fourth consecutive Australian Open final in doubles. They were joined by Hingis and Kournikova, in what is also Hingis' fifth consecutive Grand Slam doubles final and Kournikova's first. Hingis and Kournikova triumphed in straight sets, 7–5, 6–3, to make Hingis' fifth doubles Grand Slam win and the fifth doubles Grand Slam defeat of Davenport and Zvereva.
Championship match result Martina Hingis /
Anna Kournikova defeated
Lindsay Davenport /
Natasha Zvereva, 7–5, 6–3
Mixed doubles The seeds for the mixed doubles title were led by 1991 French Open finalists
Caroline Vis and
Paul Haarhuis.
Anna Kournikova and
Mark Knowles came second, while
Rennae Stubbs and
Jim Grabb and
Mirjana Lučić and
Mahesh Bhupathi followed. In a massive surprise, all of the top three seeds fell in the first round, with No. 6 seeds
Katrina Adams and
Leander Paes and No. 8 seeds
Lisa Raymond and
Patrick Galbraith following. The second round saw no seeds progressing to the quarterfinals. Lučić and Bhupathi fell to
Kimberly Po and
Donald Johnson; No. 5 seeds
Larisa Neiland and
Rick Leach went down to
Debbie Graham and
Ellis Ferreira; while No. 7 seeds
Elena Tatarkova and
Cyril Suk were defeated by
Mariaan de Swardt and
David Adams. The semifinals had
Manon Bollegraf and
Pablo Albano, who defeated Vis and Haarhuis earlier, draw against wildcards
Serena Williams and
Max Mirnyi, who defeated Stubbs and Grabb. The other side had Graham and Ferreira drawn against de Swardt and Adams. Williams and Mirnyi easily defeated Bollegraf and Albano in straight sets, while de Swardt and Adams came back from a set down to defeat Graham and Ferreira. In the final, de Swardt and Adams triumphed after losing the second set to take the decider in a close tiebreak.
Championship match result Mariaan de Swardt /
David Adams defeated
Serena Williams /
Max Mirnyi, 6–4, 4–6, 7–6(7–5)
Juniors Boys' singles Dane
Kristian Pless headed the seeds of the Boys' Singles, with
Jarkko Nieminen, Ladislav Chramosta,
Éric Prodon and
Jaroslav Levinský made up the rest of the Top 5. All the seeds passed the first round without severe difficulty. The first upsets came in the second round Chramosta fell to American
Levar Harper-Griffith, and fellow seeds
David Martin,
Mark Hilton and
Alex Bogomolov Jr. joining him. The quarterfinals consisted off Pless, 8th seed
Jean-Christophe Faurel, Harper-Griffith,
Francesco Aldi (who upset 7th seed
Andy Roddick en route), Levinský, Prodon, Simone Amorico (who upset 6th seed
Jürgen Melzer) and
Mikhail Youzhny (who defeated Nieminen). Pless defeated Faurel, Aldi defeated Harper-Griffith, and Youzhny defeated Amorico all in two sets, while Levinský took three sets involving a lengthy third set to defeat Prodon, 3–6, 6–0, 9–7. Pless only dropped two games to defeat Aldi and advance to the final. His opponent was Youzhny, who defeated Levinský, 7–6, 7–5. Pless defeated Youzhny, 6–4, 6–3, to capture the Boys' Singles title.
Championship match result Kristian Pless defeated
Mikhail Youzhny, 6–4, 6–3
Girls' singles only dropped 25 games during the entire tournament. The field for this year's Girls' Singles was headed by
Nadia Petrova, who despite being the first seed, had to go through the qualifying. Slovenia's
Tina Hergold was seeded second, and
Wynne Prakusya was third, despite also having to go through qualifying. Greek
Eleni Daniilidou and American
Ansley Cargill made the rest of the Top 5. The first round saw a quick end to Cargill, winning only three games against Italian qualifier
Flavia Pennetta. 7th seed
Iveta Benešová also departed, along with 15th seed
Györgyi Zsíros. Three further seeds were defeated in the second round: Czech 8th seed
Dája Bedáňová, 11th seed
Michelle Gerards, and 16th seed
Aniela Mojzis. Petrova, Hergold and Daniilidou all made the quarterfinals. Prakusya was upset in three sets by New Zealand's 12th seed
Leanne Baker. 13th
Virginie Razzano also made it the quarterfinals, as did 9th seed
Katarína Bašternáková by defeating American 8th seed
Laura Granville en route. Unseeded players
Hannah Collin and
Roberta Vinci also made a quarterfinal appearance. Petrova and Hergold defeated Collin and Vinci to reach the semifinals in two sets. Bašternáková disposed of Baker in three to meet Hergold, while Razzano dropped the first set but won the next two to upset Daniilidou and meet Petrova. The semifinals saw Razzano stun Petrova by defeating the Russian in straight sets. Bašternáková was struggling against Hergold, but ended up winning in three sets to make a final appearance. Razzano ended up dominating Bašternáková in the final, only dropping two games to win.
Championship match result Virginie Razzano defeated
Katarína Bašternáková, 6–1, 6–1
Boys' doubles Americans
Bo Hodge and
David Martin were the first seeds. Czechs Ladislav Chramosta and
Michal Navrátil came second, while
Jürgen Melzer teamed up with the first seed in singles,
Kristian Pless, as the third seeded team. The first round saw an early exit to Hodge and Martin, falling to Canadians
Philip Gubenco and Charles-Antoine Sévigny. South African fifth seeds Andrew McDade and
Dirk Stegmann, Norwegian fifth seeds
Stian Boretti and
Jørgen Vestli, and American sixth seeds Simone Amorico and
Alex Bogomolov Jr. also fell. The remaining seeds then proceeded through the quarterfinals without too much trouble. Chramosta and Navrátil got a virtual bye through to the semifinals after their opponents,
Maximilian Abel and
Jaroslav Levinský, withdrew. Melzer and Pless passed easily to the semifinals, as did Italian fourth seeds
Francesco Aldi and Stefano Mocci. Gubenco and Sévigny also advanced. Melzer and Pless fought off a three-set contest from their Canadian opponents to win, 6–2, 4–6, 6–2. The other semifinal match saw Chramosta and Navrátil recover from losing the first set in a tiebreak, to win the second in another tiebreak and the third in a
bagel. The first set of the final also ended up being a tiebreak, which went to the Czechs. However, Melzer and Pless came back, only dropping three games, to take the next two sets and the championships.
Championship match result Jürgen Melzer /
Kristian Pless defeated
Ladislav Chramosta /
Michal Navrátil, 6–7, 6–3, 6–0
Girls' doubles won her first Junior Grand Slam title. The American team of
Ansley Cargill and
Lindsay Dawaf led the field, with
Dája Bedáňová and
Aniela Mojzis following as the second seeds, and Slovaks
Katarína Bašternáková and
Zuzana Kučová coming in third. The first round witnessed the defeat of the fourth seeded Czechs
Dominika Luzarová and
Iveta Benešová, as well as the defeat of the sixth, seventh and eighth seeds. The second round saw one further upset, with Cargill and Dawaf falling to
Eleni Daniilidou and
Virginie Razzano. Despite winning the first set, 6–4, the Americans only won one game in the final two sets. Bedáňová and Mojzis progressed through to the semifinals by defeating Aussies
Monique Adamczak and
Sarah Stone in three sets. No such success came, however, for Bašternáková and Kučová, as they fell in two sets to South African fifth seeds
Natalie Grandin and
Nicole Rencken. Daniilidou and Razzano also progressed, while the final spot in the semifinals was won by home hopes
Melanie-Ann Clayton and
Nicole Sewell. Clayton and Sewell won the first set against Daniilidou and Razzano, but the Europeans prevailed, 3–6, 6–3, 6–4. The other semifinal match also went to three sets, but Grandin and Rencken ended up defeating Bedáňová and Mojzis, 6–4, 4–6, 6–4. The final was decisive, with Daniilidou and Razzano dominating Grandin and Rencken throughout, only dropping two games to win, 6–1, 6–1.
Championship match result Eleni Daniilidou /
Virginie Razzano defeated
Natalie Grandin /
Nicole Rencken, 6–1, 6–1 == Singles seeds ==