[Send Yourself a Flower] Event Type: Australian Open Women's Singles Final
[Send Yourself a Flower] Both sides of the game: Zheng Qinwen VS Sabalenka
[Send yourself a flower] competition time: 18:00 on January 27, Beijing time
[Send yourself a flower] live broadcast platform: CCTV5 sports channel
[Send Yourself a Flower] Playing Venue: Melbourne Centre Court, Rod Laver
[send yourself a flower] Sabalenka condition
Sabalenka had an unusually tough semi-final as she won a tug-of-war with No.4 seed Goff. Successfully reached the third major final of his career. She squandered a 5-2 start to allow the American to drag the match to a tie-break in the first set, eventually winning 7-6, 6-4.
World No. 2 not only avenged her defeat in the final of the US Open last fall, but also put her record in a major tournament into the top four of all time for the first time (ranked 12th in all divisions). She had not lost a set in the Australian Open final before the semifinals.
She hasn't won the 2023 singles title in Madrid since nine months ago, and her most recent attempt was in Brisbane (losing to Rybakina). In her career, she has an 11-6 record in the finals (1-1 at a Grand Slam level).
She is trying to become the first player to defend the Daphne Axhurst Memorial Cup since her compatriot Victoria Azarenka defeated China's Li Na in the final in 2013. The 25-year-old has won 18 in a row against players who are not in the top 10.
[Send yourself a flower] Zheng Qinwen's condition
Zheng was broken once in each set before beating qualifier Yastremska 6-4, 6-4. She suffered 10 break points against an exhausted Ukrainian, but saved eight of them to become the first Chinese player to reach a Grand Slam final 10 years after Li Na won the title in Melbourne.
Unlike Belarusians, the world No. 15 In six rounds, three times were dragged to the tiebreaker. In the first round, she had to go to the deciding set against Ashlyn Kruger, as well as against Kalinskaya in the quarter-finals, and she also fought off compatriot Wang Yafan in a tie-break in two hours and 40 minutes.
She became the second player to reach the final after beating six unseeded players after runner-up Sanchez Vicario in 1995, and the first person in the No.32 seed era not to face a seeded player in the process of advancing to the final. The 21-year-old is also the second-youngest Asian Grand Slam finalist.
The soon-to-be top-10 Chinese athlete is aiming for the third title of her career after winning her first two WTA titles in the second half of the 2023 season (Zheng Qinwen has a 2-2 final record). She defeated Jasmine Pollini in Palermo and Barbola Krejcikova in Zhengzhou. She then lost to Beatrice Haddad Maya in a two-set tie-break at the WTA Elite Cup in Zhuhai.
[Send Yourself a Flower] head-to-head record
Alina Sabalenka leads 1-0. The two met in the quarterfinals of the US Open last September, where the eventual finalist lost five matches in 73 minutes to 23rd-ranked Zheng Qinwen. Belarusians are the favourites, with about two-thirds of women's titles at the Australian Open won by the top two seeded players.
[send yourself a flower] result prediction
Judging from the results of the survey on the official WTA website, Sabalenka is the more favored side. 73% of fans believe that Sabalenka will successfully defend her title.