As the NFL playoffs are continuing, many people haven’t noticed one of the most prestigious sports events, the Australian open. This past weekend, the Australian Open finals took place, bringing some new faces to the trophies. On Saturday, the women’s finals, featuring Aryana Sabalenka (no.2) and Qinwen Zheng (no.12), happened at 2 am. With a straight-set win, Aryana Sabalenka won her back-to-back trophy and got her name etched as the 2024 Aussie Open champion. She didn’t drop a single set the whole tournament, being dominant and a clear fan favorite. She is the only woman to win two consecutive Australian Open titles since her compatriot, Victoria Azarenka in 2013-2013.

As we head to the men’s bracket, some unexpected wins and losses occurred. The American, Ben Shelton, lost in the 3rd round to the no.20 seed, almost making it to the round of 16. In addition, Alexander Zverev won his quarterfinal match over no.2 seed Carlos Alcaraz after having a senior injury last season. One of the biggest upsets happened in the semi-finals, when Jannik Sinner beat Novak Djocovic, the no.1 seed and last year’s winner, to the finals. After a 3-1 score, Djocovic says goodbye to Melbourne and loses his consecutive since the Wimbledon Final. Sinner later beats Danili Medvediv down two sets and captures his first-ever grand slam title. 

Moving to the men’s doubles, the no.1 seed lost in the third round to an unseeded team. Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden defeated Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori in the final, 7–6, 7–5 to win the men’s doubles tennis title at the 2024 Australian Open. It was Bopanna’s first major title in doubles and Ebden’s second.

Finally, the women’s doubles: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-Wei and Belgium’s Elise Mertens won the women’s doubles crown at the Australian Open on Sunday with an emphatic 6-1 7-5 victory over Latvian-Ukrainian pairing Jelena Ostapenko and Lyudmyla Kichenok.