She reached the final without losing a set, dominated the final and defended her title - Belarusian tennis player Arina Sabaljenko defeated China's Qinwen Zhen 2:0 (6:3, 6:2) today and won the Australian Open.
Sabaljenka dominated from the first to the last point, only at the beginning of the final and in the last game she allowed the opponent break points, controlled the match and deservedly reached the cup in Melbourne. Including the Australian Open last year, Sabaljenka won 28 sets in Melbourne and lost only one! Today, she became the first tennis player after Serena Williams, who won the Australian Open without losing a set in the last 20 years.
The Belarusian tennis player won two Grand Slams in her career - both in Melbourne (2023 and this year). She played in the semi-finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, and the final at the US Open. All this last year.
"I want to congratulate Jen on her great games. It's hard to lose the final, but she's a young tennis player and will surely play more matches for the title. Congratulations to her team too, they did a great job. It's been a fantastic two weeks behind me - I couldn't have imagined that I'm going to lift this trophy one more time. I'm speechless. Thank you to my team, because they're on my side no matter what. Thank you to my family, which is my biggest motivation. Not to forget the audience too - thank you for your support, this place is special. I'm waiting to come back and hope to win the trophy again," Sabaljenka said after the match.
Sabaljenka already broke in the second game and took a 2:0 lead. But already in the next game, the Chinese woman had three break points, which she did not use.
From that moment on, Sabaljenka wondered about everything, as she quickly reached the lead in the sets.
Jen had problems with her serve, she had a lot of double service errors, so she allowed her opponent a break at the start of the second set - Sabaljenka took a 2:0 lead, and then took a break for 4:1.
In the eighth game, when she served for the title, the Belarusian tennis player had 40:0 and three match points. Then Džen managed to equalize and reach a break point, but that was all - Sabaljenka realized the fifth match point and ended the match after just one hour and 17 minutes.
"Congratulations to Arina, she had a fantastic final. My first final - this was to gain experience. I want to thank the fans who came to watch me. It's a complicated feeling. I think I could have done better. Thanks to my team, who helped me to meet in the final. I enjoyed the Australian Open, great memories. I'm sure there will be more," Jen said.
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