# 1998 Sydney International – Women's singles

Martina Hingis was the defending champion but lost in the second round to Venus Williams.
Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario won in the final 6–1, 6–3 against Williams.

## Seeds

A champion seed is indicated in bold text while text in italics indicates the round in which that seed was eliminated. The top four seeds received a bye to the second round.
* Martina Hingis (second round)
* Lindsay Davenport (quarterfinals)
* Amanda Coetzer (second round)
* Irina Spîrlea (second round)
* Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario (champion)
* Conchita Martínez (second round)
* Sandrine Testud (second round)
* Anke Huber (first round)

## Draw
### Key

* Q = Qualifier
* WC = Wild card
* LL = Lucky loser
* Alt = Alternate
* SE = Special exempt
* PR = Protected ranking
* ITF = ITF entry
* JE = Junior exempt
* w/o = Walkover
* r = Retired
* d = Defaulted
* SR = Special ranking

### Final

| Final | Final | Final | Final | Final |
| | Venus Williams | 1 | 3 | |
| 5 | Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario | 6 | 6 | |

### Section 1

| First round | First round | First round | First round | First round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals |
| | | | | | 1 | M Hingis | 6 | 4 | 5 | | | | | | |
| | V Williams | 6 | | | | V Williams | 3 | 6 | 7 | | | | | | |
| | R Dragomir | 4 | r | | | | | | | V Williams | 6 | 6 | | | |
| | M Maleeva | 6 | 1 | 6 | | | | | | M Maleeva | 2 | 2 | | | |
| | S Appelmans | 1 | 6 | 3 | | M Maleeva | 6 | 1 | 6 | | | | | | |
| | C Rubin | 6 | 6 | | | C Rubin | 3 | 6 | 4 | | | | | | |
| 8 | A Huber | 2 | 3 | | | | | | | | | | V Williams | 6 | 7 |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | A Sugiyama | 1 | 6 |
| | | | | | 4 | I Spîrlea | 2 | 6 | 3 | | | | | | |
| | B Paulus | 6 | 6 | | | B Paulus | 6 | 1 | 6 | | | | | | |
| | M Oremans | 0 | 2 | | | | | | | B Paulus | 1 | 6 | | | |
| | A Sugiyama | 6 | 7 | | | | | | | A Sugiyama | 6 | 7 | | | |
| LL | F Lubiani | 1 | 6 | | | A Sugiyama | 7 | 6 | | | | | | | |
| Q | G León García | 2 | 3 | | 6 | C Martínez | 6 | 3 | | | | | | | |
| 6 | C Martínez | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | | | |

### Section 2

| First round | First round | First round | First round | First round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals |
| 5 | A Sánchez-Vicario | 7 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | K Habšudová | 5 | 4 | | 5 | A Sánchez-Vicario | 6 | 3 | 6 | | | | | | | | | |
| Q | J Lee | 6 | 1 | | Q | J Lee | 2 | 6 | 3 | | | | | | | | | |
| | B Schultz-McCarthy | 0 | 1 | r | | | | | | 5 | A Sánchez-Vicario | 6 | 6 | | | | | |
| WC | R McQuillan | 2 | 5 | | | | | | | | N Zvereva | 1 | 2 | | | | | |
| | N Zvereva | 6 | 7 | | | N Zvereva | 6 | 6 | 7 | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | 3 | A Coetzer | 7 | 3 | 5 | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 5 | A Sánchez-Vicario | 6 | 6 |
| 7 | S Testud | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | | | | | | Q | S Williams | 2 | 1 |
| WC | K-A Guse | 1 | 2 | | 7 | S Testud | 6 | 0 | r | | | | | | | | | |
| Q | S Williams | 3 | 6 | 7 | Q | S Williams | 7 | 3 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Q | M Lučić | 6 | 4 | 5 | | | | | | Q | S Williams | 1 | 7 | 7 | | | | |
| | Y Basuki | 4 | 0 | r | | | | | | 2 | L Davenport | 6 | 5 | 5 | | | | |
| | A Kournikova | 6 | 3 | | | A Kournikova | 2 | 7 | 3 | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | 2 | L Davenport | 6 | 6 | 6 | | | | | | | | | |