By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Dominance at its finest.
During the highly anticipated Australian Open women’s singles championship match, Aryna Sabalenka pulled off another magical campaign after blanking Zheng Qinwen of China- 6.3, 6.2- to successfully defend her Grand Slam title in Melbourne, last January 27, 2024.
Her second straight championship trophy in the Australian Open was made sweeter after completing her run without dropping a single set, sweeping all her opponents from the first round until the championship match.
Fresh off a convincing win against world no. 4 seed Coco Gauff during the semifinals, Sabalenka still carried the momentum from the victory and just pummeled Qinwen from the get-go.
After scoring an early break point to change the complexion of the game, Sabalenka just snowballed her way to a comfortable 6-3 win and held all her service possessions before the second set started.
Eager to storm her way back into the game, Qinwen mixed things up after relying on her forehand groundstrokes to cover her baseline area but the power and efficient angles Sabalenka threw just proved to be too much.
Qinwen got some little momentum midway through the second set after outlasting Sabalenka in two long rallies, but the defending champion was quick to answer with three laser-sharp groundstroke winners to get back on track.
Sabalenka then saved her best for last after playing a flawless game in the remaining 10 minutes of the championship match to secure another golden trophy in Melbourne.
Despite the loss, Qinwen still put up her best performance on the Grand Slam stage so far after reaching the grand final while defeating the likes of Dayana Yastremska and Anna Kalinskaya.
