AAP Tennis

Sabalenka beats Zheng to defend Australian Open crown

By AAP Newswire

Jan 27, 2024

Aryna Sabalenka in AO final action against Zheng Qinwen. — Aryna Sabalenka has retained her Australian Open crown with a 6-3 6-2 win over Zheng Qinwen. -AAP Image

Aryna Sabalenka has placed her rivals on notice with a ruthless Australian Open final victory over Chinese underdog Zheng Qinwen.

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Sabalenka overwhelmed Zheng 6-3 6-2 on Saturday night to become the first woman to defend their crown at Melbourne Park since fellow Belarusian Victoria Azarenka in 2013.

On a mission after losing last year's US Open final from a set up against Coco Gauff, Sabalenka shed her tag as a one grand-slam wonder with 76 minutes of focus and ferocity.

The world No.2 broke Zheng three times without dropping her own serve all night to surge to within one tournament victory of supplanting Poland's Iga Swiatek from the top ranking.

Underlining her dominance, Sabalenka joins greats Ash Barty (2022), Serena Williams (2017), Maria Sharapova (2008) and Lindsay Davenport (2000) as only the fifth woman this century to lift the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup without dropping a set.

Believing in destiny, Zheng had been hoping the stars would align and that she would become Asia's second grand slam singles champion, a neat decade after her Chinese idol and inspiration Li Na won the Australian Open in 2014.

But the second-ranked Sabalenka ended the 21-year-old's fairytale in clinical fashion.

She asserted her dominance early by winning the opening three games of the match, the first two in the second set and never realistically looked like losing.