The 2024 Australian Open, the first of four grand slam tennis events of the season, has come and gone and featured some incredible tennis. Aryna Sabalenka cemented her status as one of the best female players in the sport and 22-year-old Italian Jannik Sinner claimed his first career grand slam after a dominant effort early in the draw and ultimately surviving a scare in the final.
Let’s take a look back at the Australian Open finals recap and look ahead to the second grand slam of the season, which doesn’t take place for another four months.
Australian Open Finals Recap: Sabalenka Defends Her Title
The women’s draw may have featured some quality matches and worthy contenders, but it was always Sabalenka’s to lose. The defending champion had the shortest odds to win the tournament in tennis predictions ever since top seed Iga Swiatek was eliminated in the second round and looked incredibly comfortable throughout the tournament. Sabalenka didn’t drop a single set en route to defending her title, beating the likes of Lesia Tsurenko, Amanda Anisimova, Babora Krejcikova, and Coco Gauff.
Two of those players were top-10 seeds, whereas her opponent in the final, Qinwen Zheng, never had to play an opponent ranked inside the top 50. That was evident in the match as the 21-year-old Chinese player had no answer for Sabalenka’s service and return game. Sabalenka won the match 6-3, 6-2, winning 84% of points on first serve and saving all four breakpoint chances she gave Zheng.
Sabalenka is the first woman to win consecutive Australian Open titles since Victoria Azarenka in 2012 and 2013 and only the fifth woman to win the title without losing a set since 2000. Zheng was the first player in 40 years to make a grand slam final without having to beat a top-50 opponent in the first six matches, so it’s no surprise she came up short in the Australian Open finals recap.
Sinner Comes Back to Beat Medvedev in 5 Sets
For the men’s Australian Open finals recap, Sinner, who had only lost one set through his first six matches, found himself down 2-0 to Medvedev before rallying to win 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3. He is the first Italian male player to win a grand slam since Adriano Panatta in the 1976 French Open.
Sinner has been one of the hottest players in the sport dating back to late last season and had incredible tennis stats in Australia. He led Italy to win the Davis Cup last year, won in China, and ran through the draw in Australia, beating the likes of Novak Djokovic, Andrey Rublev, and Sebastian Baez. He is now 3-1 in his last four matches against Djokovic and made the 10-time Australian Open winner look human in their semi-final match.
French Open Outright Odds
With the Australian Open finished, we now turn our attention to the next grand slam on the tennis calendar, the 2024 French Open. Despite winning his first grand slam and looking like the best player in the sport over the last few months, Sinner has just the fourth-shortest tennis odds to win the clay court tournament, behind Rafael Nadal, Djokovic, and Carlos Alcaraz. In the women’s draw, Swiatek, a two-time champion, is a massive betting favorite.
WTA
Player | Odds |
---|---|
Iga Swiatek | +114 |
Aryna Sabalenka | +430 |
Coco Gauff | +800 |
Elena Rybakina | +1100 |
Mirra Andreeva | +1525 |
Karolina Muchova | +1775 |
Ons Jabeur | +2100 |
Barbora Krejcikova | +2300 |
Qinwen Zheng | +2900 |
Beatriz Haddad Maia | +3200 |
ATP
Player | Odds |
---|---|
Carlos Alcaraz | +143 |
Novak Djokovic | +216 |
Rafael Nadal | +400 |
Jannik Sinner | +490 |
Holger Rune | +910 |
Daniil Medvedev | +1100 |
Casper Ruud | +1200 |
Stefanos Tsitsipas | +1375 |
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