ARYNA Sabalenka breezed past Qinwen Zheng today to retain her Australian Open women’s singles title in Melbourne.
The 25-year-old second seed claimed the first Grand Slam title of 2024 after overpowering 21-year-old Chinese star Zheng 6-3, 6-2 at Rod Laver Arena.
Sabalenka has become the first back-to-back Australian Open champion since Victoria Azarenka in 2012 and 2013, and the second player in the Open era to win her first two majors in Melbourne.
Belarusian Sabalenka has also become the second player in the last 20 years to win the women’s singles Australian Open final without a single game dropped on serve after Serena Williams in 2007 against Maria Sharapova, according to Opta statistics.
Also, Sabalenka is the ninth woman in the Open era to win back-to-back singles titles at the Australian Open after Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis, Jennifer Capriati, Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka.
Interestingly, Sabalenka is only the fifth player this century to secure the women’s singles title at the Australian Open without a single set dropped en route after Lindsay Davenport in 2000, Sharapova in 2008, Serena Williams in 2017 and Ashleigh Barty in 2022.
