Zheng Qinwen v Aryna Sabalenka: Australian Open 2024 women’s singles final – live

Hello! Are you ready? After two weeks of intriguing tennis under the Melbourne sun, here we are. The women’s final between the reigning champion Aryna Sabalenka and Zheng Qinwen kicks off at 8.30GMT.

You probably pencilled in Sabalenka at the beginning of the tournament. And she’s played like a queen, not dropping a set, screaming those winners into the far corners, her mental strength now as reliable as her grunts of effort. She played three major finals in the last year – losing the US Open against Coco Gauff just a few months ago, incidentally beating Zheng in the quarter final on her way there.

Zheng, the number 12 seed, is very much the underdog, but she too has a dream – never underestimate a dream – and that’s to emulate her heroine Li Na, who was the last Chinese player to win a major in 2014 when she beat Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) to take the Australian Open title. Her path through this competition has been helped by the scything of the seeds early on, but her tennis has been classy, her forehand formidable, and her composure admirable. May the best woman win!