Australian Open 2024: Aryna Sabalenka claims back-to-back titles in Melbourne, beating first-time finallist Zheng Qinwen

Aryna Sabalenka is Australian Open champion for a second consecutive year.

The world No.2 never looked in trouble on Saturday night (27 January) inside Rod Laver Arena, beating first-time major finallist Zheng Qinwen of the People's Republic of China, 6-3, 6-2 in one hour and 16 minutes.

Sabalenka becomes the first woman to win back-to-back AO women's titles since her compatriot Victoria Azarenka did so in 2012-13.

Sabalenka didn't drop a set in seven matches won over the two-week fortnight, with her closest contest coming in the semi-finals in a rematch of the US Open championship tilt against Coco Gauff.

"I never speak about my family in my winner's speeches, but they mean so much to me," an emotional Sabalenka said after the win. "You're my biggest motivation - everything that I'm doing I'm doing for you."  

Sabalenka's father, Sergey, passed away unexpectedly in November 2019. His dream was for his daughter to be No.1 and win Grand Slams - she's done both. 

Zheng, 21, is the first Chinese woman to reach a major singles final since Li Na won this event 10 years ago.

She raced to a 3-0 lead early and never looked back, dropping just six points on serve and fending off all four break points she faced. Her 14 winners were topped by 19 from Zheng, but Sabalenka dominated a majority of the rallies, breaking serve three times - assisted by six double faults from Zheng.

Sabalenka became the first woman since Ashleigh Barty in 2022 to not drop a set in her run to the title, and only the fifth since the year 2000. Lindsay Davenport (2000), Maria Sharapova (2008) and Serena Williams (2017) also completed said feat.

Aryna Sabalenka: 14 matches in a row at AO

Is Sabalenka the best player in women's tennis right now?

It certainly feels that way. She lost the Brisbane final to Elena Rybakina three weeks ago, but bounced back this AO, losing just 11 games into the quarter-finals before she took out major champions Barbora Krejcikova and Gauff to make a third career major final.

"I put a little bit of pressure on [my team] after the Brisbane final, but we did a little bit better in this one," a smiling Sabalenka said, calling out coaches Anton Dubrov and Jason Stacy. Without you I wouldn't be able to achieve so much in this sport."

"And without me, you wouldn't be as good, as well," she added, laughing.

With world No.1 Iga Swiatek going out in the third round to Linda Noskova, Sabalenka has the right to claim "the best" title at present state, having gone 22-5 since the start of the US Open last August.

Her ground game is as big as anyone's in the sport, and Saturday she showed that off with superb serving, something she had done all Australian Open long, too.

Sabalenka had won her only previous meeting with Zheng, at the US Open quarterfinals four months ago, and was again rather untroubled by the No.12 seed. It's a 14th career singles title for Sabalenka, with 12 of them coming on hard courts.

Zheng will make her top 10 debut in Monday's rankings at world No.7.