Aryna Sabalenka holds off Jessica Pegula fightback to win US Open

While Aryna Sabalenka has established herself at the top of her sport over the past two seasons, she has been her own worst opponent in many of the biggest Grand Slam matches. Even when she came in confident, her game in full bloom, her head often got in her way. Recovering from so many painful collapses has required a resilience second to none.

Nowhere were these problems more apparent than in New York, a city perfectly suited to her exciting play and extraordinary personality, but where the positive effects of her two semi-finals and a final in the past three years have been undone by heavy losses.

Ultimately, Sabalenka held her nerve until the bitter end in two intense, stormy sets that pushed her to her limits, eventually winning her first title in New York with a stunning 7-5, 7-5 victory over the combative Jessica Pegula.

With her third career Grand Slam title, Sabalenka, the second seed, has now won more major titles than any Belarusian tennis player, breaking a tie with Victoria Azarenka. She is only the fifth woman in the open era to win both hard-court Grand Slam titles in the same season, having also won the Australian Open this year.

Grand Slams were once Sabalenka’s greatest weakness and she was already established as a top-10 player before she even reached her first quarterfinal. She has now won three of the last four hardcourt majors, her only loss coming in last year’s US Open final to Coco Gauff.

This matchup marked a battle between the two best players of the summer, with Pegula winning the Canadian Open in Toronto before Sabalenka defeated Pegula in the final of Cincinnati. In their most recent match, Sabalenka simply overwhelmed Pegula with her power.

In what proved to be a breathtaking battle of the highest quality, the opening set initially moved in a similar direction. Pegula, the sixth seed, used her impeccable timing and hand skills to deflect Sabalenka’s pace as best she could, while maintaining excellent depth and consistency, but the second seed’s superior weight of the shot decided the majority of the points. Sabalenka also showed her improved variety by consistently closing points at the net.

After recovering from an early break, Sabalenka served for the set at 5-3. Pegula responded with a brilliant return game as the crowd became increasingly entrenched, their cheers amplified under the roof of Arthur Ashe Stadium. Sabalenka blinked and made forehand errors as she lost her serve. Down a break point at 5-5 after a double fault, she lost her composure, repeatedly slamming her racket on the floor, but recovered immediately. She saved the break point with an 84mph serve, then hit an incredible backhand down the line. After holding, it would take five set points on Pegula’s serve before Sabalenka finally put the set away.

Just when it looked like the 26-year-old was going to take the match, Pegula sharpened her focus. From 0-3, 30-40 down, the American forced herself to take the first shot in rallies, brilliantly redirecting the ball from both wings and gradually catching up with an increasingly erratic Sabalenka. Pegula rolled through five games in a row to lead 5-3.

A year ago, Sabalenka held a one-set lead over Gauff in the final before falling apart spectacularly in the next two sets as a deafening American crowd got the Belarusian in her head. Following her semi-final win over American Emma Navarro on Thursday, Sabalenka admitted she had flashbacks to last year after failing to serve out the match and going into a tiebreak.

For a moment, history seemed to be repeating itself. But Sabalenka took a deep breath, drew on the years of work she had put into controlling her emotions, gathered herself and marched through the final four games of the match to finally capture the US Open title she had so patiently waited for.