Sabalenka vs Zheng: live stream today's Australian Open 2024 women's final online, defending champion wins first set

Aryna Sabalenka has made the perfect start as she bids to defend her title, winning the first set 6-3. Can she now go on to claim her second Grand Slam title? Or will Zheng find a way back into the match?

You can watch Sabalenka vs Zheng in the US, UK and for FREE in Australia on 9Now. But don't worry if you're abroad while it's on because you can watch Sabalenka vs Zheng live streams from anywhere with a VPN.

It's easy to understand why Sabalenka is such an overwhelming favorite to take home her second consecutive title this weekend. She has been as dominant as a player can be from start to to finish over the last fortnight, and it's hard to imagine how she'll be stopped in the final.

Sabalanka is yet to drop a set at this year's tournament — Coco Gauff was the first player to even take ger into a tiebreak during Thursday's semi-final. She made short shrift of Barbora Krejcikova in the last eight in a match that lasted little more than an hour, and that was after inflicting a double bagel on poor Lesia Tsurenko. It's been a formidable run.

Qinwen Zheng can't even reach back into her memories for a previous victory over the Belarusian world number two. The only time these women have met was in the quarter-final stage of last year's US Open: a straight sets win for Sabalenka.

But nobody can argue that Zheng hasn't earned the chance to go for glory. True, she hasn't yet had to face a seeded player, but the cliché that you can only play what's in front of you holds true. And she had to take down the red hot Dayana Yastremska and Anna Kalinskaya to get to her first Grand Slam final. If she can hold her nerve and add to her impressive tally of aces, there's every chance she can test the champ.

If you're not sure of your best options for getting today's Aryna Sabalenka vs Qinwen Zheng live stream, we have all the details you need on this page, including how to watch Australian Open 2024 online from anywhere in the world.

How to watch Sabalenka vs Zheng for free

If you're in Australia, you can watch Aryna Sabalenka vs Qinwen Zheng and the men's Australian Open final for FREE. The matches are scheduled to start at 7.30 pm AEDT on Saturday and Sunday.

You can tune in to Channel 9 or the streaming service 9Now, which has live streams of ongoing matches, as well as highlights for each of the matches that have already taken place.

If you're an Aussie trying to access 9Now while outside Australia, you might want to try a VPN to allow you to watch Australian Open tennis from abroad.

How to watch Sabalenka vs Zheng in the US

The Sabalenka vs Zheng final will take place on Saturday, January 27 with a start time of 3.30 am ET / 12.30 am PT in the US.

Our top recommendation for catching Sabalenka vs Zheng and other Australian Open matches would be to use the streaming service ESPN Plus. It's covering every single serve, smash and volley of the tournament and, according to ESPN, its streaming service "will stream all rounds on all courts live". Simple!

ESPN Plus costs $10.99 per month or $109.99 per year for a subscription, but many people sign up via the Disney Bundle, which offers it alongside Hulu and Disney Plus from just $14.99 per month.

• How to sign up for ESPN Plus

If you have cable, then you'll also be able to watch Sabalenka vs Zheng live on ESPN2. Alternatively, stream ESPN2 through various live TV streaming services.

DirecTV offers it in its Entertainment package for $79.99 per month (or its higher tiers), Fubo has it in the basic Pro package at $79.99 per month (or through its 7-day free trial), and Sling TV has it in its Orange plan from $40 per month (or its Orange + Blue package which is $55 per month) and half-price for your first month.

How to watch Sabalenka vs Zheng in the UK

To watch Australian Open matches including the women's final in the UK, you'll have to have either Eurosport on your TV package or to sign up to Discovery Plus.

For the latter, you'll need the Standard Discovery Plus plan (as opposed to Basic), which costs £6.99 a month and has no annual option (something that's worth emphasizing, seeing as the Basic plan does offer an annual option, but won't let you watch the tennis).

The Australian Open final will start at 8.30 am UK.

• Sign up to Discovery Plus here

How to watch Sabalenka vs Zheng from anywhere with a VPN

You can watch Sabalenka vs Zheng on any of the streaming services above by using a VPN – no matter where you are in the world!

Normally a streaming service will know where you are trying to tune in from and block you if you're not in the right country but a Virtual Private Network (VPN) is an app that hides your location. That means you can access your usual sports and entertainment services even while you're traveling abroad.

Our favorite VPN is ExpressVPN, which is the No. 1-rated VPN in the world right now according to our sister site, TechRadar.

How to use a VPN to watch any stream

• Download the app at ExpressVPN
• Choose the location of the streaming service you want to watch (UK, US, etc)
• Navigate to the streaming service and start watching!

ExpressVPN is one of the simplest and most affordable ways to watch what you want from anywhere you want to watch it.

It's straightforward and easy to use, has great security, is available on loads of streaming devices and, best of all, it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can try it out 100% risk-free.

What time does Sabalenka vs Zheng match begin?

Aryna Sabalenka vs Qinwen Zheng is slated to start at 7.30 pm AEDT local time. So that's 8.30 am UK / 3.30 am ET / 12.30 am PT on Saturday, January 27.

Although some earlier rounds often see scheduled start times get moved back owing to prior matches running for longer, that won't happen for the final.

All you need to know about Sabalenka vs Zheng