Jannik Sinner, Aryna Sabalenka, Win 2024 Australian Open

Tennis season picked up with the conclusion of the first of four Grand Slam tournaments 2024 Australian Open on January 28, marking the first Grand Slam of 2024. The annual tournament in Melbourne was full of action as new champions Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka were crowned.

The Men’s Singles Final was full of unexpected twists and turns including the lead-up to the eventual final match between Daniil Medvedev and Jannik Sinner. During the semifinals, Sinner faced off against world No. 1 ranked Novak Djokovic, the defending Australian Open champion.

Sinner defeated the 10-time Australian Open champion Djokovic in a four-set matchup that punched Sinner’s ticket to the finals.

Medvedev would take on Germany’s Alexander Zverev in the semifinals, where he would come back from being down two sets and claim victory by winning the next three sets to move on to face Sinner in the Men’s Singles Final.

Sinner would weather an early storm by Medvedev who started with an early two-set lead. Sinner roared back from being down to defeat Medvedev in an epic final in Melbourne 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3. Sinner became the first man since Gaston Gaudio at Roland Garros in 2004 to rebound from two sets and emerge as the champion.

This win marked the first Grand Slam title for Sinner, becoming the first Italian-born player to win an Australian Open Singles title in the Open Era and the youngest player from his nation to win a Grand Slam. 

This final also marked Medvedev’s third Australian Open final’s defeat, his third in the last four years of the tournament.

The Women’s Singles Final featured Aryna Sabalenka defeating Qinwen Zheng 6-3, 6-2, to become the first woman since Victoria Azarenka in 2012 and 2013 to defend an Australian Open.

The Men’s Doubles Final consisted of Australia’s Matthew Ebden and India’s Rohan Bopanna beating the Italian duo of Andrea Vavassori and Simone Bolelli 7-6, 7-5.

Bopanna became the oldest man in the Open era to win a major title, while Ebden marked the 13th straight year of the Australian Open, where at least one home-born Australian player became a champion.

The Women’s Doubles Final featured the No.1 ranked Belgium’s Elise Mertens and Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei defeating first-time finalists Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok and Latvia’s Jeļena Ostapenko in a two-set victory 6-1, 7-5. The pair finished the tournament with only two set losses in their six wins.

Hsieh claimed her eighth major doubles trophy, just two weeks after winning her first mixed doubles crown.

The next Grand Slam tournament is the French Open Roland-Garros, set to take place in Paris, France from May 20 to June 9.