Aryna Sabalenka won the Australian Open with a decisive straight-sets victory over Zheng Qinwen, a fitting end to two weeks that placed her in the current class of her sport, even if that's not what the rankings say.
For the seventh time in as many matches, Sabalenka, a 25-year-old power hitter from Belarus, overwhelmed her opponent for much of the match, overwhelming Zheng with her powerful serve, punishing forehands and thumping backhands when she wasn't there Not sending them off the field or into the net is almost impossible for their competition.
Sabalenka dominated on serve and from the back of the court (Phil Walter/Getty Images)
Sabalenka closed the first set with a stunning serve on target and secured her 6-3, 6-2 victory on her fifth match point with a ripping crosscourt forehand after just 76 minutes.
It was Sabalenka's second consecutive Australian Open title, the first time since 2014 that a woman has won two consecutive Grand Slam titles on a hard court. In a sport where consistency at the top was rare, Sabalenka was a beacon of stability at the most important tournaments.
Starting with the US Open in 2022, she has reached at least the semifinals of every Grand Slam. Since the start of last year, she has played in three Grand Slam finals, winning two of them and was just one point away from a fourth-place finish.
Her consistency is particularly remarkable given that not long ago Sabalaenka seemed as lost as a top tennis player can be. At the start of 2022, she suffered for months from the most painful “yips,” a nickname for psychological blocks that prevent athletes from performing the most basic actions.
In the case of Sabalenka, she lost the ability to serve and made 21 double faults in one game, 18 in another. In a victory at the Australian Open 2022, she celebrated “only” a hit of 10. At that time, no one could predict which run in less than one year would begin or how it would end.
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Sabalenka, a player who everyone knew had the talent and athleticism to become the best player in the world, essentially told her coaches that she didn't want to talk about her serve anymore. She fired her sports psychologist and decided it would be up to her and only her to figure it out. And she certainly did.
After last year's US Open, she was ranked No. 1 in the world. At the end of the season, Iga Swiatek from Poland took back the victory. But Swiatek struggled through her first three matches at the first Grand Slam of the year, albeit against a strong collection of opponents, and failed to reach the second week, while Sabalenka, regardless of who was on the other side of the net, had no problems.
Zheng struggled to get into the game (DAVID GRAY/AFP via Getty Images)
In the semifinals she took revenge for her loss in the US Open final against Coco Gauff. Next up was Zheng, the rising 21-year-old from China who, over the past six months, has begun to fulfill the promise that so many have prophesied of her in recent years: a player to replace Li Na as the next tennis player China could replace champion. Many Chinese fans shouted at her, waved the Chinese flag from the first ball and did their best to lift Zheng higher.
That may yet happen, but Zheng not only faced a top version of Sabalenka, but also battled the nerves of her first Grand Slam final at the end of a tournament in which Sabalenka was the only player to beat the 12th-seeded Zheng in faced the top 50.
Sabalenka seemed like a completely different enemy, and she was.
(DAVID GRAY/AFP via Getty Images)