Australian Open 2024: Aryna Sabalenka becomes fifth woman to win title without dropping a set and more stats

Aryna Sabalenka clinched consecutive Australian Open titles with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Zheng Qinwen in a one-sided women’s final.

Sabalenka, the No. 2 seed, broke Zheng’s serve in the second game and took the first set in 33 minutes.

She broke again to start the second set and maintained her dominance throughout against Zheng who was seeking her first major title.

Serving for the match at 5-2, Sabalenka blew two championship points with wide or long forehands and another with Zheng’s clever drop shot.

In the end, she needed five match points before finishing off with a forehand crosscourt winner.

The Belarusian has now claimed two Grand Slam wins from three finals in a span of 13 months.

She’s also become the first woman since Victoria Azarenka in 2012 and ’13 to win back-to-back Australian Open titles.

The 21-year-old Zheng was making her debut in a major final and playing an opponent ranked in the top-50 for the first time in the tournament.

More stats:

# Sabalenka is the fifth woman to win the Australian Open without dropping a set. She joins Lindsay Davenport, Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, Ash Barty

# Aryna Sabalenka is the ninth woman in the Open Era to win back-to-back Australian Open singles titles after Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis, Jennifer Capriati, Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka

# Aryna Sabalenka has become the second player in the last two decades to win the Australian Open women’s singles final without a single game dropped on serve after Serena Williams in 2007

2 – Aryna Sabalenka is the second player in the Open Era to win her first two Women’s Singles Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open, after Victoria Azarenka. Aussies?#AusOpen | @AustralianOpen @WTA @WTA_insider pic.twitter.com/8TPwPWCkOk

— OptaAce (@OptaAce) January 27, 2024

# Aryna Sabalenka is just the third player in the last decade to win the same women’s singles major event for consecutive seasons after Serena Williams (2015-16 Wimbledon) and Iga Swiatek (2022-2023 French Open)

# 12 of Sabalenka’s 14 titles have came on hard courts

# Sabalenka will remain the second ranked player in the world – behind Iga Swiatek

# Zheng was only the second player from China to reach a Grand Slam final after Li Na (Australian Open 2011, 2013-14, French Open 2011)

# Zheng will make her top-10 debut at World No. 7 when the WTA rankings are updated on Monday

# Sabalenka has now won 14 consecutive matches at the Australian Open. Her last defeat came against Kaia Kanepi in the fourth round of the 2022 edition