Aryna Sabalenka and Zheng Qinwen should showcase the current state of the WTA art in forceful, high-energy play

Aryna Sabalenka vs. Zheng Qinwen

Order, for the most part, has been restored in the women’s draw. After an upset-heavy first week, and a couple of deep Cinderella runs into the second week, No. 2 will meet No. 12 in the final. Sabalenka is the defending champion, and Zheng, while she’s just 21 and not yet in the Top 10, is a player whose game has had major-title contender written all over it from the beginning.

The match won’t pit the world’s two best players against each other, but it will still be a showcase for the current state of the art on the WTA tour. Sabalenka and Zheng are aggressive, athletic, high-energy players who hit with a mix of power and heavy spin, as well as a sense of purpose. They always look to get in the first strike, and don’t settle for just putting the ball back in play.

They’ve met once before, at the US Open last summer, and Sabalenka won 6-1, 6-4. In Melbourne, both have been on a mission; Sabalenka to defend her title and move back toward the No. 1 ranking; Zheng to fulfill her potential after seeing her game stall and her coach leave in 2023. She wasn’t happy when Wim Fissette chose Naomi Osaka over her. Since then, she has reunited with an old coach, Pere Riba, and revenge has been hers.

“My dream is not just the final,” Zheng says. “I’m almost there, but I know this little distance is still far away.”

Zheng will have to work hard to cross the finish line. She has yet to play a seed; now she’ll face a woman who has been out of everyone else’s league at this event. Sabalenka hasn’t dropped a set, and in her last match she killed two demons with one stone by (a) defeating Coco Gauff, the woman who beat her in last year’s US Open final; and (b) making it through a Grand Slam semifinal without giving in to her nerves. She has had a history of squandering leads in that round.

“I’m sure the final will be really competitive, because I think Sabalenka, she’s one of the, I would say, most big hitters right now in the tour,” Zheng says. “She’s got the most big serve, most big forehand, big backhand. She’s a really complete player.”

Indeed, both women have strong serves, but Sabalenka has been more effective than ever in using hers to set up a penetrating, and often winning, ground stroke. Her serve-plus-one can from the forehand or backhand side. Zheng, meanwhile, plays with an exciting freedom from the baseline. She has no problem firing away down the line, and she’s a match for Sabalenka’s famous intensity.

But she’s not a match for her experience-wise. This will be the 25-year-old Sabalenka’s third Slam final, while Zheng will be making her debut. We all know that the all-eyes-on-you atmosphere that comes with that stage can take some getting used to.

Zheng sounds well aware of what awaits her.

“Everybody needs to face the pressure in the final,” she says. “Who can deal better and who can perform their tennis, who is the one who’s gonna win the match.”

“That’s one of my challenges. I need to deal with it.”

As for Sabalenka, she’s hoping—maybe against hope—that her two previous finals help.

“I would say emotionally I’ll be, hmm, I don’t know, like, very ready to fight,” she says. “Not going crazy. Because when you play first final you kind of like get emotional and rushing things sometimes. When you’re like third time in the finals, you’re, like, OK, it’s a final, it’s OK.”

Yet experience doesn’t always win out. Sabalenka has learned to handle her emotions much better over the years, but she didn’t rise to the occasion against another first-time finalist, Coco Gauff, in New York last year.

That said, while anything can happen, and while Zheng’s moment is clearly coming, this one probably belongs to Sabalenka. Winner: Sabalenka