Australian Open: defending champion Sabalenka powers to second grand slam win, Zheng no match for world No 2
- Aryna Sabalenka downs Zheng Qinwen 6-3, 6-2, claims back-to-back titles in Melbourne
An authoritative Aryna Sabalenka blew China’s Zheng Qinwen off court on Saturday to successfully defend her Australian Open title - the first woman to do so in more than a decade.
The Belarusian world No 2 proved too powerful for the 12th seed with a 6-3, 6-2 drubbing in 76 minutes to claim her second grand slam crown on Rod Laver Arena.
Zheng, in her maiden grand slam final, was bidding to become the first Chinese player to win a major singles title since Li Na triumphed in Melbourne 10 years ago.
Sabalenka raced into a 2-0 lead and then fought back from 0-40 on her own serve to go 3-0 up. She had the chance to wrap up the first set at 5-2 on Zheng’s serve but the Chinese player rallied from 0-40 down to extend the set.
Sabalenka sealed the set in the next game with little difficulty, although 12th seed Zheng seemed to be settling.
Three double-faults from Zheng though handed the Belarusian an immediate break in the second set and her opponent never looked back.
“First of all I want to say congratulations to you Aryna – you had such a wonderful match here,” Zheng said in an on-court interview. “It was my first final and I’m feeling a little bit [of] pity but that’s how it is, an experience for me.
“I want to say thanks for all the fans who come here to watch me. I feel I could do better but I didn’t in this match but I wanted to say thanks to my team to help me arrive here.
“I really enjoyed to play in this Australian Open. An amazing memory for me. I’m sure there is going to be more and better for me in the future and thanks for all the sponsors, and thanks to all of you guys.”
Sabalenka, who is the first player to win the women’s singles title at the Australian Open for consecutive seasons since her compatriot Victoria Azarenka in 2012 and 2013, said she knew how Zheng felt but called the 21-year-old an incredible player.
“I want to congratulation Qinwen on an incredible couple of weeks in Australia,” she said. “I know this feeling. It’s really tough to lose in the finals but you are such an incredible player and such a young girl, you are going to be in many more finals and you’re going to get it. Congrats to you and your team on an amazing job.”
The 25-year-old Belarusian was the ninth player in the Open Era to secure consecutive women’s singles titles in Melbourne after Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis, Jennifer Capriati, Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka.
She was the second player over the past three seasons to secure a women’s singles grand slam title without a single set dropped on the way to the final, after Ashleigh Barty did the same at the 2022 Australian Open.
