Aryna Sabalenka overpowers Qinwen Zheng to retain Australian Open title

The defending champion struggled to put the match to bed in the closing stages, missing four match points as Zheng briefly threatened a monumental comeback, but the second seed ultimately ran out a deserved 6-3 6-2 victor over the first-time major finalist.

Sabalenka powered her way to a second Grand Slam singles title without dropping a single set over the past two weeks, while she is also the first women's singles player to win consecutive titles since her fellow Belarusian Victoria Azarenka in 2012 and 2013.

Furthermore, the 25-year-old's Melbourne crowning represented her 14th title on the WTA Tour overall - 12 of which have been won on hard courts - while Zheng, competing in a Grand Slam trophy match for the very first time, was simply overpowered on the day.

While Zheng did not face a single seeded opponent en route to Saturday's headline encounter, Sabalenka avenged her US Open final loss to Coco Gauff to set up a showdown with the Chinese 12th seed, who entered the match with more aces than any other women's player at the tournament.

Zheng's resolve eluded her at the start, though, as Sabalenka broke her 21-year-old opponent in her opening service game and fell 40-0 down behind her own serve in the eighth, only to find a resilient streak and force Sabalenka to serve out the opener.

The reigning champion did so to conclude the first set in just 33 minutes, and the writing was on the wall for Zheng after a catastrophic opening service game in the second set, where the 12th seed double-faulted three times, including on break point for Sabalenka.

Serving errors reared their ugly heads for Zheng again in the fifth game, as Sabalenka earned the double break thanks to another two double faults from the first-time finalist, but there was still some fight left in the challenger.

At 40-0 down while Sabalenka was serving for the title, Zheng managed to save all three championship points and also delayed Sabalenka's coronation for a fourth time, but on her fifth opening, the Belarusian found the mark with a blistering cross-court forehand beyond the futile reach of Zheng.

More to follow.