Sabalenka became the first female tennis player to successfully defend the championship in more than a decade. The Belarusian tennis player was superior to No. 12 seed Qinwen, so she only needed 76 minutes to win at Rod Laver Arena.
The quick victory over Qinwen showed incredible strength of Sabalenka in the past two weeks, the 25-year-old tennis player did not lose a set during his 7-match journey to the championship.
The last time a female tennis player successfully defended the championship at the Australian Open occurred in 2013. Victoria Azarenka was also a Belarusian tennis player.
Sabalenka said after being crowned: “This has been a wonderful two weeks and I can’t imagine lifting this trophy again.”
“I want to congratulations Qinwen you had an incredible two weeks in Australia. I know it was tough losing in the final but you are such an incredible player and you will make it to many finals to finish again and win the championship.”
With the achievements Sabalenka is consolidating her position at the top of the world. The Belarusian tennis player reached 6 Grand Slam semi-finals, reached the final 3 times and won twice.
It’s quite interesting that Qinwen reached the first Grand Slam final of her career without facing any seeds. All of the seeded players in her bracket were eliminated early.
Entering the final Sabalenka played a strong style with deep and heavy shots towards both corners of the court. The Belarusian player started well with an early break in the second game (2-0).
In the third game Qinwen was in front of a triple break-point but she could not claim a break. The Chinese player’s subsequent efforts only helped her avoid losing another break. Sabalenka did not give her opponent another chance to break the game and go straight to a 6-3 victory.
The failure to defend The first game of serving in the second set put Qinwen under great pressure. Sabalenka found high stability and continuously made breakthroughs by not allowing her opponent to win more than two points in service games.
Sabalenka had another break in the 5th game, expanding the score to 4-1. In the 8th game, Qinwen, after saving 4 match points, also had a break point. However, Sabalenka did not let her opponent rise, she successfully saved the break point and ended the match immediately afterwards.
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