Aryna Sabalenka is into her second straight final of the US Open, taking down Jessica Pegula for the second year in a row.
In a repeat of last year’s final, the world No 1 came from a set down to win a superb contest – perhaps the best of the tournament – 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
In Sabalenka’s third Grand Slam final of the season, she will go for a first title of the year, a fourth overall. It has been the most consistently brilliant year of the 27-year-old’s career but so far she does not have one of the big titles to show for it – on Saturday her chance will come against either Naomi Osaka or Amanda Anisimova.
‘It was a really tough match,’ Sabalenka told fans on court after the match. ‘She played incredible tennis as always, I had to work really hard to get this win. Of course I am super happy, she is such a great player and fighter.
‘I’m super happy to be in the final again, and hopefully I can go all the way again. Thank you for bringing the best atmosphere.’
Pegula may be a native New Yorker – her billionaire dad Terry owns the Buffalo Bills NFL franchise – but Sabalenka was born to play at the US Open, under the lights on Ashe.
Aryna Sabalenka is into her second straight final of the US Open, taking down Jessica Pegula
The American star was dumped out of the Grand Slam by Sabalenka for a second straight year
The scale of her volatile emotions matches this cavernous venue, and you need to yell as loudly as she does to be heard above the hum of conversation. Plus, like all good New Yorkers, she is always in a hurry.
If Sabalenka can win Saturday’s final she would become the first woman to defend this most capricious of Grand Slams since Serena Williams in 2014.
And that would feel appropriate because in many ways Sabalenka is the spiritual successor to the great American, in the ferocity of her tennis and the volatility of her emotions.
Those emotions had been simmering for four days before this: the withdrawal of her quarter-final opponent Marketa Vondrousova meant Sabalenka had not played a match since Sunday – an extraordinary gap in the middle of a Slam.
So she came in a little cold but with a 7-2 lead in the head to head – including the last three, the finals of Miami, Cincinnati and here in New York. This was the first to go the distance – all previous nine had been won in straight sets.
It was a wild and windy day in Flushing and, with the threat of rain on the radar, the roof was closed. That will have been a relief to Sabalenka; it was the Parisian squalls which blew her off-course against Coco Gauff in the French Open final, leading to that famously graceless press conference.
So in sanitised conditions there was nothing to disrupt the quality of these two player’s’ ballstriking. They both possess great power, but are very different on the eye: Pegula’s force comes from the natural purity of her ballstriking, Sabalenka’s from the violence of her strokes.
This was a repeat of last year’s final, a high-class match which Sabalenka won 7-5, 7-5.
The New Yorker, whose billionaire dad Terry owns the Buffalo Bills, clinched the first set
But the world No 1 fought back to seal a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 comeback victory on Arthur Ashe
The Belarusian won that title largely due to her greater variety but Pegula matched her this time. The local used her slice backhand with intelligence and precision, forcing Sabalenka to come into the net then picking her off with squeaky-clean passing shots.
Pegula made only three unforced errors in the first set – surely among the finest the 31-year-old has ever played – absorbing Sabalenka’s pace beautifully.
Sabalenka took herself off to the bathroom after the first set and came back breathing fire.
She charged to a 3-0 lead and began mixing it up herself, going frequently to the drop shot. As if on either end of a seesaw, Pegula’s form dropped as Sabalenka’s rose and the set was gone.
Sabalenka screamed, ‘Let’s go’ as she levelled the scores. She extended her streak to 105 Grand Slam matches in which she has won at least a set – an illustration of her remarkable consistency.
She broke in the first game of the decider, Pegula slamming a ball into the court in frustration.
But she was still playing great tennis – they both were – and the match hinged on the game at 3-2, when Sabalenka saved three break points to hold.
The Belarusian star is now heading into her third Grand Slam final of the season
At 4-3, 30-30, Sabalenka went for a massive, 97mph second serve and missed by a mile, hurling her racket to the court in frustration. She got out of that one but there was more trouble as she came to serve out a match that never slipped from a knife edge.
At 30-30 with the game in the balance she slammed down an ace, but then on match point dragged an overhead into the net.
Deuce and a brutal Sabalenka backhand, followed by a roar into the rafters of the roof. Match point again, but Pegula pinned a backhand down on Sabalenka’s toes as she came into the net.
Two big serves and finally the match was done. Another full-throated scream to cap two hours and five minutes of superb tennis.
