Aryna Sabalenka crushes Qinwen Zheng to defend Australian Open title.
An authoritative Aryna Sabalenka (25) blew China’s Zheng Qinwen (21) off court on Saturday to successfully defend her Australian Open title -the first woman to do so in more than a decade.
The Belarusian world number two proved too powerful for the 12th seed with a 6·3, 6·2 drubbing in 76 minutes to claim her second Grand Slam crown on Rod Laver Arena. It capped an incredible display of power and poise from Sabalenka over the past fortnight, with the 25-year-old surging to the title without losing a set through her seven matches.
The Belarusian opened with a comfortable serve then got a look at two break points at 15-40 in Zheng’s opening service game when the Chinese star sprayed a backhand wide.
She seized the chance, attacking her opponent’s second serve for the break. Sabalenka consolidated on serve for 3-0, but only after saving three break points as Zheng’s nerves settled and she worked to get into the contest.
The Chinese star finally got on the board as her serve hit its mark in game four, with two big unreturnable aces and a forehand winner giving her confidence. But she had few answers to the booming Sabalenka serve, struggling to get the ball back over the net and into any rallies. Zheng saved three set points with a pair of aces and a winner to hold for 3-5, but it was delaying the inevitable as Sabalenka closed out the set on serve in 33minutes.
