Belarusian tennis player Aryna Sabalenka, 25 years old, completely dominated the Australian Open final this Saturday, against Chinese Zheng Qinwen, easily reclaiming the women’s title of the first Grand Slam of the year.
After having made her debut by winning a ‘major’ a year ago, with a complicated victory against the Kazakh Elena Rybakina (4-6, 6-3 and 6-4), also at Rod Lever Arena, the Belarusian was, this time , relentless, winning 6-3 and 6-2, in one hour and 16 minutes.
“It’s fantastic to win this tournament for the second time, after two fantastic weeks. I’m very happy, speechless,” said Sabalenka, thanking her family and technical team, as well as praising her opponent in the final.
Sabalena, world number two, became the first player to retain her first Grand Slam title since compatriot Victoria Azarenka beat China’s Li Na in the 2013 Australian Open final, which was also the last time she a player had ‘twice’ the triumph in Melbourne.
The Belarusian, who had not lost a single set throughout the tournament, came out in devastating fashion and broke Zheng’s serve at the first opportunity, for a premature 2-0 lead.
In the third game, Sabalenka was still down 0-40, facing three consecutive break points, but gained five burst points and made it 3-0, an advantage she maintained until the end of the set (6-3 ), without ever wavering in service.
History repeated itself in the second set, with the Belarusian winning the first game, serving Zheng, also to never lose control of the match.
Sabalenka reached 5-1 without any problems, after another break, in the fifth game of the second set, and, at 5-2, she only had difficulty closing the match, which she only managed in the fifth match. point’ and after facing a fourth ‘break’ point.
After 76 minutes, the Belarusian sealed an unquestionable 6-3, 6-2 victory, to seal her second triumph in Australia and also her second in the ‘Grand Slam’.
With this triumph, which gave her her 14th WTA title, Sabalenka also started to have a positive record in major finals, as she only lost once, at the US Open, in 2023, against the North American Coco Gauff, from which has already ‘revenge’ in the semi-finals of the 2024 edition of the Australian Open.
In her first Grand Slam final, Zheng, 15th in the world hierarchy – she will climb to seventh on Monday -, was unable to give much of a response to the Belarusian, remaining with two WTA titles, at 21 years old.
“Congratulations to Aryna, who played a great game. It was my first Grand Slam final and I was a little nervous, but it was a good experience for me, even though I knew I could have done better,” said Zheng, still on the court ‘ from Rod Lever Arena.