Aryna Sabalenka backed up her championship win of 2023 by taking the trophy again this year.
As 2nd seed, the Belarusian emphatically made her way through the tournament.
She avoided losing a set in the seven rounds, and conceded just 31 games.
On her stampede to the final, she defeated Ella Seidel, Brenda Fruhvirtová; 28th seed Lesia Tsurenko; Amanda Anisimova, 9th seed Barbora Krejčíková; 4th seed Coco Gauff, and in the final, 12th seed Qinwen Zheng.
Sabalenka had breezed through her warm-up event, the Brisbane International, in similar form until its final. Against Elena Rybakina, she inexplicably went down down 0 & 3.
She seemed dazed and confused. Rybakina held her ground on the baseline and absorbed her opponent’s renowned pace and power.
In the first game of the second set, with Rybakina up 40-0, Sabalenka started walking to the chair as Rybakina was hitting a forehand cross court in the opposite direction. But the ball landed a metre out.
As the “Out” call came, Sabalenka glanced round and returned to the court with a sheepish smile. She jokingly pumped her fist to the crowd for the point won.
Finally, she won the tenth game and raised her arms in triumph before taking a medical time-out for a problem with her thigh.
The second set was more competitive and lasted for 49 minutes. Sabalenka won another two games and Rybakina won her first title of the year.
Despite the attempts of the Australian Open organisers to prevent matches finishing late by adding an extra day to the tournament, the defending champion’s opening round match on Rod Laver Arena began at 11.40pm.
Luckily for her, she pushed past 18 year old qualifier Seidel in 53 minutes.
Coco Gauff was the only player to really challenge Sabalenka, whom she had defeated in September to win her first grand slam, the US Open.
In their semi in Melbourne, Gauff went down 6-7(2) 4-6. Some of her eight double faults came under the pressure of returning Sabalenka’s second serve. For Sabalenka, her win was aided by 33 winners .
She then faced Zheng in the final. Zheng was named WTA Newcomer of the Year in 2022 and won her first title at last year’s Palermo Ladies Open, defeating Jasmine Paolini.
On the way to the final, Zheng played three matches that required a third set, although she did not encounter a seeded opponent until Sabalenka.
Her toughest match was in the fourth round, an all-Chinese affair against Yafan Wang, which she won in a third set tiebreak, 10-8.
Zheng couldn’t seem to shake her nerves in the final. She promptly fell behind 0-3. She occasionally displayed her talent, but Sabalenka took the first set with great serving, 6-3.
The second set began with Zheng losing serve, not least due to three double faults. She won a game for 1-2, staying composed – as she did all match – through a disruption by a protestor and the crowd booing in response.
But soon Sabalenka slid out to 5-1. Through clever play, Zheng served out the next game to postpone defeat.
On her serve, Sabalenka rushed on her first two championship points, causing unforced errors. On the third, Zheng played a well disguised drop shot to win the point for deuce. Another unforced error by Sabalenka saw the fourth disappear.
On the fifth and final championship point, Sabalenka served hard out wide and Zheng just managed to get the ball back high over the net. Sabalenka pounced and hit cross court as Zheng ran towards the bouncing ball and took a fresh air-swipe.
As the result of making the final, Zheng moved into the top ten for the first time, at No. 7.
Standing on the court as champion, Sabalenka revealed how losing to Gauff in the US Open final affected her. “The loss really motivated me so much to work even harder and improve my game so next time I play in a final, I’m more confident in my game and I have more belief in myself.”
Of today’s match, she offered these reasons for her victory, “I think my aggressive game and that I put her a lot under pressure on her serve. Of course, I served quite well tonight which is also very important, but I think the key was that on her serve I made her play a bit more than usual.”
In claiming consecutive Australian Opens, Sabalenka followed fellow Belarusian Victoria Azarenka who won in 2012 and 2013.
Title photo by Alex Coppel/ Tennis Australia