Aryna Sabalenka is two-time champion of the Australian Open – 01/27/2024 – Sport

Aryna Sabalenka repeated in 2023 and started the tennis season showing great form. As she had done last year, the talented Belarusian built a solid campaign towards the Australian Open title, achieving, on the same stage, her second trophy in the Grand Slam series – which brings together the sport’s four biggest tournaments.

To lift the cup, the 14th of her career in elite singles championships, the 25-year-old athlete defeated Chinese Qinwen Zheng, 21, by 2 sets to 0, 6/3 and 6/2. The match lasted just 1h16, at the end of which the quality and experience of the favorite prevailed.

World number two, Sabalenka was in her third Grand Slam final – in addition to the now two titles in Australia, she has a runner-up at the US Open. Zheng, who has two elite titles (in Palermo and Guangzhou, in 2003), had never reached the quarterfinals on one of the sport’s four main stages.

The Chinese, who will jump from 15th to 7th place in the next WTA list (the association of professional tennis players), arrived at the Australian Open as seed number 12. She had tough games, but she saw her way open and she didn’t need to face no other seed until the final.

Sabalenka had to beat the Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko, 28th seeded, with a humiliating 6/0 and 6/0, and also faced the Czech Barbora Krejcíková, ninth seed, in which she scored 6/2 and 6/3. Their campaign to the semi-finals was extremely smooth. There were only 16 games lost in five matches, with the following partials: 6/0 and 6/1, 6/3 and 6/2, 6/0 and 6/0, 6/3 and 6/2 and 6/2 and 6/3.

The title defender then faced 19-year-old American Coco Gauff, her tormentor in the final of the last US Open. In two well-balanced sets, she stood out in the decisive moments, scoring 7/6 (7/2) and 6/4 against her rival, who will appear third in the next ranking.

In the final confrontation, the Belarusian’s favoritism was clear, as she soon broke her opponent’s serve and established her superiority. In the second set, the only moment of tension was the final game, when Zheng saved four match points until Aryna finally closed the championship with a right hand.

The result gives the champion a prize of 3.15 million Australian dollars, the equivalent of R$10.2 million. And it keeps her on the heels of the number one in the world, the Polish Iga Swiatek – eliminated in the third round. Sabalenka now has 8,905 points, compared to 9,770 for the leader. Gauff, in third, has 7,200.

Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia, who disappointed in the third round and lost to the young Russian Maria Timofeeva, 170th in the world, lost one position – surpassed precisely by runner-up Qinwen Zheng. In the next WTA list, with 2,950 points, the São Paulo native will be in 13th place.