SundayDEVASTATING
Sabalenka cruises to her second Aussie crown without dropping a set
ARYNA SABALENKA crushed Qinwen Zheng yesterday to win her second consecutive Australian Open title and confirm her status as the best player in the world. Iga Swiatek may top the rankings but Sabalenka’s annihilation of the field in Melbourne means she is now the one to beat.
The 25-year-old Belarusian won the title without dropping a set. She won 32 out of 38 first-serve points in the final, at an average speed of 117mph. These are Serena Williamslike numbers and there are echoes of the great American in how Sabalenka effortlessly won her second Grand Slam title.
‘It has been in my mind that I didn’t want to be that player who won it and then disappeared,’ said Sabalenka after her 6-3, 6-2 victory. ‘I wanted to show I’m able to be consistently there and win another one. I really hope there will be more than two, but for me (this one) was really important.’
Zheng, the first Chinese player to reach a major final since her idol Li Na won this title 10 years ago, had a fine tournament and the 21-yearold will move up to No7 in the world. We may well look back on this as the emergence of a new global megastar.
Her first serve produced six aces and prevented this from being a rout, but Zheng could not live with Sabalenka’s power and aggression.
Her first service game in each set were the poorest she played all match and that left her with next to no chance against a front-runner like Sabalenka — the world No2 won 94 per cent of sets last year in which she broke early. Once the girl with the tiger tattoo gets her claws into you she does not let go.
Sabalenka’s days of being a liability on serve and emotionally volatile in high-pressure moments have been consigned to the past.
‘There was a moment where I didn’t believe I’m gonna win it one day, especially when I was serving double faults and couldn’t fix my serve,’ admitted Sabalenka. ‘But I just couldn’t quit. I have to keep fighting. I want to believe that my father (who died in 2019) is watching me and proud of me.’
She and her coaches have done a phenomenal job, using a biomechanics expert to reconstruct her serve into a devastating weapon and creating a lighthearted, playful atmosphere in the team — she has been signing physio Jason Stacy’s bald head after every win during this fortnight. Only as she squandered four match points in her final game did any frustration bubble to the surface.
‘We always do a lot of crazy stuff with the team,’ Sabalenka said. ‘It helps me stay focused. It’s enough pressure on the court; off the court we’re just trying to keep it simple, keep it fun.’
Stacy said before the final that the team have banned talk of Sabalenka defending her title. Not so much with a view to reducing the pressure, but because they do not want the word ‘defend’ anywhere near their player’s mind. Sabalenka did not defend this title — she attacked it.
In the men’s final this morning, Daniil Medvedev will be hoping experience can be his trump card against Jannik Sinner.
Sinner is through to his first grand-slam showpiece after stunning Novak Djokovic in the semifinals while this will be a sixth shot at a major trophy for Russian Medvedev.