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 similarly, becoming the first woman to win two consecutive Australian Open titles since her compatriot Victoria Azarenka achieved the feat in 2012-13.
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.
The 21-year-old had three opportunities to immediately break back, offering up an early twist in the narrative, but Sabalenka defended them all and cruised through the first set from that point on, engineering three set points on Zheng’s serve.
