Tennis star Aryna Sabalenka successfully defended her title at the Australian Open.
The Belarusian defeated the Chinese Zheng Qinwen 6:3, 6:2 in the final in Melbourne on Saturday after a show of force and celebrated the second Grand Slam triumph of her career.
Sabalenka secured prize money of around 1.9 million euros and is unbeaten in 14 games at Melbourne Park. The 25-year-old world number two didn’t drop a set during the tournament. After just 1:16 hours, she used her fifth match point and became the first player to successfully defend the title in Melbourne since her compatriot Wiktoria Asarenka in 2013.
Zheng, on the other hand, missed out on ascending the throne of Melbourne ten years after her compatriot Li Na. The 21-year-old can console herself with around one million euros in prize money and will move into the top ten of the WTA world rankings for the first time.
Sabalenka easily won the only previous meeting between the two in two sets in the quarterfinals of the US Open 2023, and on Saturday in the Rod Laver Arena she was also the clearly dominant player from the start. She broke the Chinese early in the first set and immediately set course for her second major title. In the second set, Sabalenka left no doubt about this.