Defending champion Martina Hingis defeated Conchita Martínez in the final, 6–3, 6–3 to win the women's singles tennis title at the 1998 Australian Open. It was her second Australian Open title and fourth major singles title overall. This was the first major in which future world No. 1, Olympic gold medalist, and 23-time major singles champion Serena Williams competed in the main draw. She was defeated by her sister Venus in the second round. Nirupama Vaidyanathan became the first Indian woman in the Open Era to contest, and to win, a major singles match.

Seeds

• # Martina Hingis (champion) • # 🇺🇸 Lindsay Davenport (semifinals) • # Amanda Coetzer (fourth round) • # Iva Majoli (third round) • # 🇫🇷 Mary Pierce (quarterfinals) • # 🇷🇴 Irina Spîrlea (first round) • # 🇪🇸 Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (quarterfinals) • # 🇪🇸 Conchita Martínez (final) • # 🇫🇷 Sandrine Testud (quarterfinals) • # 🇩🇪 Anke Huber (semifinals) • # Brenda Schultz-McCarthy (second round) • # 🇧🇪 Sabine Appelmans (first round) • # 🇺🇸 Lisa Raymond (third round) • # 🇧🇪 Dominique Van Roost (third round) • # 🇷🇴 Ruxandra Dragomir (fourth round) • # 🇯🇵 Ai Sugiyama (fourth round)

Qualifying

Draw

Finals

Top half

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Section 4

Bottom half

Section 5

Section 6

Section 7

Section 8