Aryna Sabalenka successfully defends women’s Australian Open title, defeating Zheng Qinwen in dominant fashion

Aryna Sabalenka successfully defended her Australian Open women’s title on Saturday, dismantling China’s Zheng Qinwen 6-3 6-2 in the final in Melbourne and completing a dominant tournament in which she did not drop a single set.

Aryna Sabalenka successfully defended her Australian Open women’s title on Saturday, dismantling China’s Zheng Qinwen 6-3 6-2 in the final in Melbourne and completing a dominant tournament in which she did not drop a single set. The Belarusian unleashed her supply of powerful groundstrokes from the very start, completely overpowering the No. 12 seed and pinning her far behind the baseline for the majority of the 76-minute long match. Such a powerful display marked a continuation of Sabalenka’s impressive tournament in which the world No. 2 swept aside every opponent on her route to the final in comfortable fashion. And she clinched her second grand slam title in similar fashion, becoming the first woman to win two consecutive Australian Open titles since her compatriot Victoria Azarenka achieved the feat more in 2012-13. “It’s been an amazing couple of weeks and I couldn’t imagine myself lifting this trophy one more time,” the 25-year-old said on court afterwards. “It’s an unbelievable feeling right now and I’m really speechless and as always, my speech is going to be weird. It’s not my superpower but I’ll try my best.” Despite falling short at the final hurdle, it marked an impressive tournament for Zheng too as she reached a grand slam final for the first time in her nascent career and ensured that she will rise to world No. 7, her debut in the top 10 of the rankings.