After Victoria Azarenka won in 2012 and 2013, the world No. 2 player became the second player to win back-to-back women’s titles at Melbourne Park with the victory.
Australian Open Women’s Final : In the women’s singles on Saturday at the Rod Laver Arena, an unwavering Aryna Sabalenka destroyed Qinwen Zheng’s hopes, winning 6-3, 6-2 in under an hour to successfully defend her Australian Open title. After Victoria Azarenka won in 2012 and 2013, the world No. 2 player became the second player to win back-to-back women’s titles at Melbourne Park with the victory.
Sabalenka won 28 of her previous 29 sets in Melbourne, including her bid for the championship in 2023, and she did not lose a set during the course of the two-week period. Consequently, the 25-time tour-level champion became the fifth player in history to win the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup without dropping a set, following Lindsay Davenport in 2000, Ash Barty in 2022, and Serena Williams in 2017.
With the crushing victory, Sabalenka’s record in major finals now stands at 2-1. She joins Iga Swiatek, Naomi Osaka, Garbiűe Muguruza, Simona Halep, Petra Kvitova, Azarenka, Angelique Kerber, Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Venus Williams as the only active players on the WTA circuit with multiple Slam victories.
Sabalenka served up a perfect set of aggressive tennis that prevented Zheng from ever getting into a rhythm. With a powerful backhand early in the opening set, she broke the Chinese to grab a 2-0 lead. In the following game, the No. 12 seed gave herself three break-point opportunities fast, but the Belarusian repelled them all admirably. The rest of the match was characterized by Zheng’s inability to establish a foothold after that game. The sole bright spot in the set was Zheng’s increased proportion of first serves, which included six aces, from 56% to 63% throughout her run to the championship match.
While Sabalenka lost the first set on the winners count of 14 to Zheng’s 19, she still dominated with her serve, landing 67% of her first serves and giving up just 6 points on it.
Then, when Zheng was having trouble landing her first serves, the 2023 US Open finalist broke twice in the second set, once early and once late. In the first game, Sabalenka made three double faults and two more in the fifth, sprinting to a 4-1 lead. In the second set, Zheng made a late push to rally, saving four championship points as Sabalenka advanced to 5-2 40-0, forcing a break point twice before Zheng could capitalize. However, the reigning champion depended on her serve and was able to convert her sixth championship point via a flawless one-two forehand strike.