The Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (2) repeated her crown in Melbourne without giving up a single set in the entire competition, after beating the Chinese Qinwen Zheng (12) 6-3 and 6-2 in the final of the Australian Open, in a hour and 16 minutes.
The second-ranked player in the world became the first tennis player to successfully defend the title in the oceanic major, since the conquests of her compatriot Viktoria Azarenka in 2012 and 2013.
“This is very special, I am speechless. I thank everyone who makes this tournament possible and my team. Thank you very much for being by my side no matter what happens,” explained the winner of the Open, who will maintain second position in the world. , behind the Polish Iga Swiatek (1).
“I feel a little sorry, it’s my first final, but I congratulate Aryna,” Zheng commented after the match. “It’s complicated, I feel like I could have done more in a game like this, but, despite that, I thank my team for their support and trust,” she added.
Sabalenka completed a perfect tournament, after she did not give up a set in her victories against the German Ella Seidel, the Czech Brenda Fruhvirtova, the Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko, the American Amanda Anisimova, the Czech Barbora Krejcikova (9), the American Coco Gauff (4) and the Chinese Zheng.
It was her second victory over the Asian player, after the Belarusian took the only match they had before the final, in the quarterfinals of the United States Open (2023).
Precisely, this clash was the largest match for the 21-year-old Zheng, who only had a quarterfinal in Flushing Meadows as the best result in a ‘slam’ before this Saturday’s final.
The Rod Laver Arena was close to full capacity and had a notable presence of Chinese fans, who did not stop cheering on the tennis player, coached by the Catalan Pere Riba, throughout the entire match.
Sabalenka, with more experience in this type of scenario due to her two previous major finals, imposed her frenetic pace, accompanied by powerful serves, from the start of a clash in which Zheng could not easily enter the rallies.
The Chinese received an early break that she was not able to amend by wasting three counterbreak points and the Belarusian, who did not lower her level throughout the first, scored the first set 6-3.
The Belarusian finished the first set with 94% of first serve points, four winners and five unforced errors. Sabalenka’s pressure and depth caused a total of 19 forced errors.
The same dynamic was repeated in a second set in which the second seed put ground in the middle by converting a new break that silenced a Rod Laver dyed red in some sectors by the Chinese flags.
In the first part of the second set, a fan was expelled from the stadium, after shouting “Free Palestine”, before the Chinese player went to serve.
The sound of Sabalenka’s punch, both on the forehand and backhand side, unleashed cries of astonishment among the fans of a Rod Laver who had registered a similar sensation with the clean forehands of the Italian Jannik Sinner, during the men’s semifinals. against Serbian Novak Djokovic.
The Chinese, who finished the match with 19 winners and 16 unforced errors, was not able to find the formula to prevent the unleashed proposal of Sabalenka who, after a new break, scored the final set 6-2 .
The champion missed the first four serve opportunities to close the match, but scored the fifth match point after connecting with a forehand winner.
Sabalenka finished the match with 84% of points won on first serves, 14 winners and 14 unforced errors, and caused Zheng to commit 32 forced errors due to the demands of her furious hitting.
