Sabalenka does the double, defends Australian Open crown by defeating Zheng

Aryna Sabalenka is the back-to-back Australian Open champion, and it wasn’t even close. She defeated Zheng Qinwen 6-3, 6-2 to win the 12th hard court title of her career, and to become the first woman to defend her crown in Melbourne since Victoria Azarenka in 2012 and 2013.

“It’s been an amazing couple of weeks,” she said on receiving the trophy from Evonne Goolagong Cawley.

The 25-year-old was simply inexorable from the off, racing to a 3-0 lead, with Zheng unable to break for 2-1 despite three break points.

And though Zheng was three set points down at 5-2, she had no answer to the Sabalenka serve – after wrapping up the first set 6-3, she had clocked 94 per cent of points on her first serve.

And Zheng’s own serve – which had brought her six aces in the first set – began to crumble, with three double faults in the first game of the second set.

The match was interrupted by noise from protesters in the crowd requiring security intervention with Zheng about to serve to get on the board in the second – but her concentration was not shaken.

Zheng saved four championship points on the Sabalenka serve, but could do nothing about the fifth, a brilliant forehand cross-court winner.

The Belarusian had beaten Zheng in their only previous meeting, in the quarter-final of the US Open last year – the Chinese player’s previous best result at a Grand Slam.

And now she becomes the fifth woman this millennium to win the Australian Open without losing a set, joining Lindsay Davenport (2000), Maria Sharapova (2008), Serena Williams (2017) and Ash Barty (2022).

Zheng for her part can, of course, be proud of her fortnight culminating in her maiden Grand Slam final and a rankings rise to world No 7 imminent. She did not beat any player inside the Top 50 during her campaign, with world No 54 Katie Boulter in the second round her highest-ranked opponent. The 21-year-old also spent 11 hours and 34 minutes on court en route to the final – significantly more than Sabalenka, who required only six hours and 55 minutes to get there.

“I feel a little bit pity,” Zheng said afterwards, “but that’s how it is – it’s experience for me.”

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