Aryna Sabalenka is the Australian Open champion—again. The No. 2 seed added a second Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup to her trophy case with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over No. 12 seed Zheng Qinwen on Saturday in Melbourne.
Sabalenka is the first woman to win back-to-back singles titles at the Australian Open since Victoria Azarenka in 2012-13. But after she battled to a three-set victory over Elena Rybakina inside Rod Laver Arena for her first major win 12 months ago, Sabalenka's second act was one of the most dominant title runs in history. She didn't lose a set in seven matches, the fifth woman since 2000 to do that, and only dropped 31 games in 14 sets.
Sabalenka also lost five games against Zheng in their 6-1, 6-4 US Open quarterfinal five months ago, and started the rematch in equally commanding form: She won the first three games, which included a hold from 0-40 down the second time she stepped to the line, to lead 3-0 at the first changeover. She never trailed over 1 hour and 16 minutes, though she needed five set points to win the first set, and five championship points to seal the title.
The No. 2 seed didn't overpower the 2022 WTA Newcomer of the Year off the ground (the 21-year-old hit 19 winners to Sabalenka's 14), but her serve, which was impregnable throughout the fortnight, remained so in the final. She saved all four break points she faced in the match, and won 84% of the points played behind her first delivery.
Sabalenka is the first woman since Serena Williams in 2007 to win the Australian Open without being broken.
"I'm speechless right now," Sabalenka said afterwards. "I don't know how to describe my emotions. But definitely I'm super, super happy and proud of everything I was able to achieve so far.
"Yeah, just happy with the level I played today. She's a great player and very tough opponent. I'm super happy that I was able to get this win today."
With a second major win, Sabalenka brings the roster of active multi-Grand Slam champions on the WTA to 10. She told reporters that adding her name to a star-studded club that includes Iga Swiatek, Naomi Osaka and Venus Williams has been a motivation for her since she broke through for her first Melbourne win 12 months ago—the extension of a promise that she made to her late father, Sergey, who passed away in 2019.
When Sabalenka was young, the pair made a pact, which is chronicled in the second season of Netflix's "Break Point," that she'd win a Grand Slam by age 25.
"It's been in my mind that I didn't want to be that player to win [one Slam] and then disappeared," Sabalenka said. "I just wanted to show that I'm able to be consistently there and I'm able to win another one. I really hope that more, more than two right now, but for me was really important."
The win is even sweeter for Sabalenka when one considers what followed for her in the other three Grand Slams in 2023. She lost heartbreaking three-setters in the semifinals of Roland Garros and Wimbledon last year (respectively, to Karolina Muchova, where she had match point, and to Ons Jabeur, where she led by a set and a break), and couldn't finish off Coco Gauff in three sets in the US Open final despite having won the first. (In Melbourne, Sabalenka got her revenge on Gauff in the semifinals, 7-6(2), 6-4.)
"You know what? I actually felt after [winning the title] last year it's going to help me to be more free and don't care about things," Sabalenka said. "But not really. You still feel the same. You still want it badly and you still working very hard for it, and you still have to show up and fight for it and show your best level.
"Before I was watching all these champions crying after each Slam. I was, like, 'Come on, you've done it, like, 15 times. Why are you still crying?' Right now, I didn't even get to that point, but I feel like I understand why they still crying. Because every time, the same pressure, the same expectations. You want it same way. So it's always emotional. It's still the same, you know.
"Now having two Grand Slam titles, it's definitely give me more confidence and believe in myself. I just have this knowing that all my life it wasn't, like, wasting of time and I was doing the right thing. I'm where I'm meant to be, so that's really important."
Zheng nonetheless cemented her status as one of the sport's top young talents with her Melbourne run, which came 10 years after her compatriot Li Na became the first Asian woman to win the singles title. Zheng will break into the world's Top 10 on Monday.
