Aryna Sabalenka breezes to Australian Open title

Field Level Media|published: Sat 27th January, 05:03 2024

Jan 25, 2024; Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in action against Coco Gauff of the United States in the semi-final of the women s singles at the Australian Open. credits: Mike Frey-USA TODAY Sports

Second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus successfully defended her Australian Open championship, trouncing 12th-seeded Qinwen Zheng of China 6-3, 6-2 in the final on Saturday.

Sabalenka, 25, saved all four break points she faced and won half of her six break opportunities. She was competing in her third career Grand Slam final, having defeated Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina for the title in Melbourne a year ago before losing in the U.S. Open final last summer to Coco Gauff.

Zheng, 21, got to a major final for the first time. She is set to become just the second Chinese player to crack the top 10 of the world rankings, joining Li Na.

Sabalenka won the first three games of the match, then needed five set points over the final two games to seal the first set.

The second set began with Sabalenka breaking serve. Sabalenka didn't take advantage of her first four championship points before finally closing out the victory in 1 hour, 16 minutes.

—Field Level Media