Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus) won the Australian Open title for the second time in a row after convincingly defeating Qinwen Zheng (China) by 2-0 (6:3, 6:2) in 77 minutes of play in the final.
Aryna Sabalenka is the first in 11 years with two consecutive triumphs in Melbourne, and in 2013, her compatriot Victoria Azarenka did it. The impressive thing about Aryna Sabalenka is that she won the trophy without losing a set, and in the final, she was extremely dominant.
She already has two “Grand Slam” titles and has been to at least the semifinals of the last six “major” tournaments. Only against Cori Coco Gauff in the semifinals that day did she lose more than three games in a set, and that was because she conceded a break at 5:2 in her favor.
Aryna Sabalenka was the first to reach two break-points already in her first meeting, doing an excellent job of placing aggressive returns and causing mistakes of the opponent – 2:0. It didn’t give her a trouble-free set, however, as she missed the net and then missed two backhands in a row and had to defend three break chances. She still managed, including a backhand winner, and with two forehands in the net of the Chinese woman, it was 3:0.
Qinwen Zheng won her next two serves, but couldn’t find quality returns and put Aryna Sabalenka’s serve games under pressure. After only 23 minutes of play, the aggressive style of the second seed led her to a 5:2 lead and as close as possible to taking the set.
The Chinese tennis player fell behind with 0-30 and then overpowered the forehand and “gave” a triple setball to her opponent. The first was reflected with an ace on the line, and the second with a combination of serve and winning forehand. Another ace down the line on the left side of the court brought the game to deuce, and subsequently won the crucial game 5:3. Jung’s forehand backhand meant two set points for Aryna Sabalenka on her serve, and her opponent countered the first with a fantastic return. However, the Belarusian took the first set 6:3 in 34 minutes with an unreflected opening shot.
The Chinese started the second set disastrously with another early break, just like in the first part. Aryna Sabalenka went through 30-30 but consolidated her advantage and led again with 2:0.
Qinwen Zheng returned to the tension and “tightening” of the hand on forehands, as well as on the execution of the opening shot – she allowed another break and completely ruined her chances of bringing more intrigue to the final. Aryna Sabalenka led with 4:1 and two breaks, which brought her significantly closer to the title.
The Belarusian fell behind with 0-30 and the audience was enthusiastic, but there was not even a chance for a breakthrough, and at 5:1, hardly anyone believed in the possibility of a turnaround.
Aryna Sabalenka raced to three match points but was annoyed when she didn’t capitalize on the first two with two wrong forehands trying for winners. With an elegant short ball, Qinwen Zheng reflected the third one, which brought the game to a deuce and contributed to increasing the tension. Again, a diagonal serve from the draw court brought a fourth match point, but a forehand into the net meant a second 40-40. Jung pressed his return and secured a break chance that was eliminated with an ace on the left side of the court. A forehand won and another match point made Aryna Sabalenka scream, even though she wasn’t done yet. Finally, a forehand service helped the Belarusian to close the match and win the title without losing a set.
