Sabalenka, champion: she raced again at the Australian Open twice

The Australian Open is territorial Aryna Sabalenka. He opened his Grand Slam record in 2023, extended it in 2024. Double champion. The first woman to retain the crown from one year to the next at Melbourne Park after the Belarusian Victoria Azarenkathe best in 2012 and 2013.

At 25 years old, he will continue to be world number two in the rankings, but he has already passed the first place and threatens to regain it at the expense of the Pole. Iga Swiatek This Sabalenka, matured by experts in psychology and biomechanics, found stability surrounded by a team so loyal that even his physical trainer accepted that his bald head bears the signature of his wife students in every match of this tournament, as a ritual It is. continued working on the first day.

Comfortable, safe, shows its enormous potential, with shots that overflow mercilessly, Aryna Sabalenka reasserted hegemony at the Australian Open without dropping a set. They won 28 out of 29 played for the double.

In his third Grand Slam final (he lost at the 2023 US Open to Coco Gauff) beat the Chinese rookie Qinwen Zheng21 years old and world No. 15, 6-3 and 6-2 in one hour and 16 minutes.

Sabalenka He sweeps rivals to win his fourteenth professional title, increasing his financial earnings with 3,150,000 Australian dollars, close to two kilos of euros. And position yourself as one of the great moments.

He came out determined to show his stripes at the Barcelona-based Asian and coached by the former ATP player. Pere Riba, that this Monday will debut in the top-10 as the seventh in the world. Excellent call development to happen on That Libut she did not allow the pressure, which was already great because of the importance of the event but even greater because of the demolition tennis that Sabalenka was doing.

The Belarusian broke his opponent’s serve at the start, point blank. A springboard for the champion, a little more ballast in the backpack Zhengwho saved three set points on serve (queen of ‘aces’ of the tournament) at 2-5, but ended up surrendering at 3-6.

From the nerves of the Chinese, the three double faults which meant that he was back again in the second round. Too much advantage for Sabalenka who from the start of the event showed a bit more speed than the others.

The double champion only suffered, mortal as he is, the dizziness of closing a Grand Slam. Even with previous experience he could not escape the evil of the champion. In the last game he wasted four balls of the match, from 40-0. He even had to come back from a break ball to avoid giving up his serve for the first time. He sped up a bit, wanting to finish, but finally got it right after letting loose with a scream that echoed across Australia.

Zheng appeared in a part of the draw full of surprises, without taking the pulse of one of the favorites until he found himself in his first grand final. Given the conditions, there is much to come in the future.