Aryna Sabalenka ended a painful grand slam season on a glorious high by defeating Amanda Anisimova to retain her US Open crown.
Both women were looking to bury recent scar tissue, with Anisimova back in a major final 56 days after her Wimbledon whitewash, while Sabalenka suffered heart-breaking defeats at both the Australian Open and French Open – forced to apologise after an ungracious press conference towards winner Coco Gauff at the latter.
Sabalenka also lost to Anisimova in the semi-finals at Wimbledon, putting her in the strange position of being by a distance the best player in the world but without a slam trophy in 2025.
She put that right in New York, showing herself and the wider tennis world that she can keep her cool when it really matters to quell a fightback from Anisimova and claim a 6-3 7-6 (3) victory.
Sabalenka is the first woman since Serena Williams won three successive US Open titles between 2012 and 2014 to successfully defend it, while she has increased her tally of slams to four, having now added two New York triumphs to her pair of Australian Open trophies.
When Anisimova’s final backhand landed just out, Sabalenka collapsed to the court behind the baseline, tears flowing, before thrusting her arms into the air in triumph and relief.
With heavy rain battering Queens, the roof was closed, adding an extra edge to the atmosphere and allowing both women to strike out with confidence.
Anisimova must have feared the worst when, having missed three break points in the opening game, she dropped serve immediately, extending her run of losing games in grand slam finals to 14.
Sabalenka led 30-0 in the third game as well, the set threatening to run away from Anisimova in a similar fashion to Wimbledon, but she told herself above all this tournament to be brave and she powered winners into opposite corners to finally get on the board.
Having won one game, she quickly made that three in a row, the crowd greeting every winner with a huge cheer.
Sabalenka is not used to being outhit, but she used her experience of being on the big stage to great effect, content to keep things steady rather than spectacular and allow Anisimova to take the big risks.
The American was dominating both the winner and error count and it was the latter that climbed again as Sabalenka responded with four games in a row to take the opening set.
Sabalenka’s emotions almost bubbled over during a tense semi-final win over Jessica Pegula, but making it across the line was a huge moment for the 27-year-old given the year she has had.
Addressing Sabalenaka’s mentality ahead of the contest, performance coach Jason Stacy said: “Sometimes she has this internal battle of how to keep that tiger under control but let it free at the same time.”
Here, though, the world number one appeared clear-minded, while Anisimova, who was struggling with the roof lighting on her ball toss, was too inconsistent to apply any solid pressure.
Anisimova slammed a ball down in frustration when a backhand pass from Sabalenka gave her another break in the third game of the second set and, although she fought back to level, the eighth seed’s serve was too much of a liability.
Sabalenka forged ahead again to lead 5-3 and soon found herself serving for the title.
Perhaps it was inevitable that it would not be straightforward. Anisimova somehow dug out a backhand lob that Sabalenka dumped into the net to give herself a chance to level and more huge hitting made it 5-5.
If there was a moment for the demons to resurface, it was now, but Sabalenka took the set to a tie-break, where she has been untouchable this season, and this time finished the job.
Anisimova’s final tally of 29 unforced errors, including seven double faults, was ultimately too many, but the American, who started the year ranked outside the top 30, will have the consolation of being a top-four player on Monday.
