Jannik Sinner became tennis’ newest grand slam champion at the Australian Open while Aryna Sabalenka successfully defended her title.
The year’s first grand slam brought plenty of long matches and late nights and set the tone for an intriguing season to come.
Here, the PA news agency picks out five things we learned at Melbourne Park.
Changing of the guard
The shifting sands of the sport have moved extremely slowly over the last decade, but there is no doubt change is here – and more is on the way. No one will be writing off Novak Djokovic after one off-colour tournament – he still reached the semi-finals despite being nowhere near his best – but power is moving towards the youngest generation, led by Carlos Alcaraz and now Sinner. Rafael Nadal’s comeback adds extra intrigue heading towards the French Open.
Sabalenka setting the standard
Iga Swiatek remains world number one but not by much and, based on the last five slams, Sabalenka can lay claim to be the best across all surfaces. While Swiatek will be favoured to sweep all before her on clay again, she has work to do to prove she can be a consistent force on hard courts and grass. Sabalenka was awesome in Melbourne, never dropping a set and maintaining a sense of emotional calm that the rest of the locker room would have observed with some trepidation.
New Norrie
Cameron Norrie has been Britain’s Mr Dependable over the last three years, using his physical and mental prowess to battle his way into the top 10. But in Melbourne the 28-year-old showed a whole new attacking side to his game that was a joy to watch. Norrie pulled off the best slam victory of his career over Casper Ruud in the third round and pushed Alexander Zverev all the way to a deciding tie-break before bowing out. If he continues on the same path, he can put himself right in the mix at the biggest tournaments.
Raducanu back on track
Emma Raducanu may only have made the second round of her comeback slam before a tight loss to Wang Yafan but the signs were very encouraging. The 21-year-old played with conviction, looked good physically barring an unfortunate stomach bug and, most encouragingly, appeared happy and excited to be back on tour. It will take Raducanu time to find her level but there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic, especially if she sticks with new coach Nick Cavaday for a sustained period.
Late night addiction
Tournament director Craig Tiley’s claim that extending the event to 15 days would somehow fix the problem of matches going late into the night was always farcical, and so it proved. Even only having two matches in the day session did not guarantee the night session began on time, and Daniil Medvedev’s second-round clash with Emil Ruusuvuori did not finish until 3.39am. Until tennis accepts that matches are becoming ever longer and schedules accordingly, nothing will change.
Sabalenka sets up Swiatek rematch at Madrid Open
Aryna Sabalenka will face Iga Swiatek in the Madrid Open final for the second year running after beating Elena Rybakina 1-6 7-5 7-6 (7-5) in a semi-final classic on Thursday.
Fourth seed Rybakina made a flying start and took the opener within just 25 minutes, but Sabalenka hit back in a topsy-turvy second set featuring five breaks of serve to force a decider.
Both players were imperious on their own serve from there, with a tie-break required to split them. Sabalenka's power looked likely to overwhelm Rybakina as she raced into a 5-1 lead, but the former Wimbledon champion clung on by saving two match points on her own serve.
Sabalenka would not be denied third time around, though, a huge serve giving Rybakina no chance as the defending champion teed up a rematch with Swiatek, who she beat in the Spanish capital in last year's showpiece match.
Data Debrief: Sabalenka's unwanted record
Sabalenka has dropped 60 games at this year's Madrid Open. That makes her the player with the most games dropped en route to reaching the final since the tournament's inception in 2009.
The world number two had to dig deep in a match which saw Rybakina win more total points (99 to 95), but she will not mind one bit if she goes on to capture a third Madrid Open title on Saturday.
Lehecka into maiden Masters semi-final after Medvedev retires hurt
Jiri Lehecka progressed to the first ATP Masters 1000 semi-final of his career as Daniil Medvedev retired hurt on Thursday at the Madrid Open.
Lehecka, who beat the great Rafael Nadal in the last 16, had just taken the first set 6-4 when Medvedev threw in the towel.
Medvedev had earlier received treatment from the physio, having seemingly struggled when moving to his right side.
"It's never easy in a match like this," Lehecka said. "If I were to choose the way how to win this match, it wouldn't be like that.
"So of course, it's never easy to see your opponent struggling, but at that moment, you just need to focus on yourself, trying to get the maximum level out of yourself."
Lehecka will face Felix Auger-Aliassime, who progressed thanks to a walkover following Jannik Sinner's withdrawal, for a place in the final.
Data Debrief: Czech mates
Lehecka is the third Czech player to reach the semi-finals in Madrid, following Jiri Vovak and Tomas Berdych.
Should Lehecka reach the final, he will move into the top 20 of the ATP rankings for the first time.
Swiatek races into Madrid Open final with dominant win over Keys
Iga Swiatek cruised into her second Madrid Open final on Thursday, maintaining her ominous form by beating Madison Keys 6-1 6-3 within 71 minutes.
Swiatek had been forced to fight back from a set down against Beatriz Haddad Maia in the quarter-finals, but there was no slow start on Thursday as she broke Keys' serve to love at the first attempt.
Only in the fifth game, when Keys failed to convert two break points, was Swiatek troubled in a 31-minute opener, and she carried that momentum into the second set with another early break.
Having eliminated Coco Gauff and Ons Jabeur on a deeply impressive run, Keys had no answer for Swiatek's power as she clinically worked her way through the second set, the American's forehand running long on match point to seal a routine win for the world number one.
Having lost last year's final against Aryna Sabalenka, Swiatek could face a rematch against the defending champion, who takes on Elena Rybakina in Thursday's other semi-final.
Data Debrief: Swiatek surpasses Serena
Saturday's final will be Swiatek's 11th at WTA 1000-level, the Pole going all the way on 37.9 per cent of her 29 main-draw entries at that level. That is a better ratio than 23-time grand slam champion Serena Williams managed in her glittering career, the American doing so at 18 of 49 WTA 1000 tournaments (36.7 per cent).
Swiatek has now played eight matches in 2024 without dropping a single game on her own serve, a tally only matched by her possible final opponent Sabalenka on the WTA tour.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
