Australian Open: Without losing a set: Sabalenka defends title in Melbourne

Australian Open
Without losing a set: Sabalenka defends title in Melbourne

With an impressive performance, Aryna Sabalenka won her title at the Australian Open successfully defended. The 25-year-old tennis player from Belarus won the final in Melbourne on Saturday against Zheng Qinwen from China 6:3, 6:2 and thus celebrated her second Grand Slam title. Sabalenka remained without losing a set throughout the tournament. The world number two converted her fifth match point after just 76 minutes.

In Sabalenka, the player won the first Grand Slam title of the year, having dominated the event on the Yarra River almost at will for two weeks. Starting with the clear 6:0, 6:1 against the German qualifier Ellas Seidel, Sabalenka stormed through the tournament. The American US Open champion Coco Gauff was also unable to pose a threat to Sabalenka in the semifinals. World number one Iga Swiatek from Poland was surprisingly eliminated in the third round.

Sabalenka has everything under control in the final

Sabalenka also set the pace from the start in the final. The favorite managed a quick break, with her powerful groundstrokes and strong serve she gave Zheng Qinwen no chance. The loud support of the many Chinese spectators in the Rod Laver Arena also helped the world number 15. not. After 33 minutes, Sabalenka took the first set.

Zheng Qinwen was the first Chinese woman to reach the final since Li Na ten years ago. Your great tennis idol won the title in Melbourne in 2014 and thus finally became a superstar in her home country. Zheng Qinwen was far from repeating this triumph on Saturday.

Sabalenka also had everything under control in the second set. The Belarusian managed another quick break, also because Zheng Qinwen made three double faults. The Chinese tried to hold back and also managed some nice points. But the 21-year-old didn’t have a real chance against the overpowering defending champions. Sabalenka did not allow herself to be disturbed by a short interruption at the beginning of the second set due to a spectator’s pro-Palestine protest.

Sinner and Medvedev in the men’s final

In the men’s race, the Italian Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev conqueror Daniil Medvedev from Russia will face each other this Sunday (9.30 a.m. CET/Sky). For Sinner it is the first Grand Slam final ever. The South Tyrolean has impressively dominated the tournament so far and ended Novak Djokovic’s super series in the semifinals. The Serb, who has triumphed in Melbourne a total of ten times so far, had previously won 33 games in a row in Melbourne.

For Medvedev, however, it is already the sixth final at one of the four most important tournaments in the world. In the semifinals against Zverev on Friday, he made up a two-set deficit and won the game in five sets. The world number three has already reached the final twice in Melbourne, but lost both times.

dpa