US Open: Sabalenka wins title over Pegula

Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka has won her first ever US Open title, defeating American Jessica Pegula in the final of her home Grand Slam, 7-5, 7-5. A year after making the final and losing to Coco Gauff, Sabalenka ensured there wouldn’t be back-to-back American winners in the women’s singles bracket, and in doing so secured the third Grand Slam title of her career.

Sabalenka hit 40 winners to Pegula’s 17, and converted on six of 15 break attempts. Both players won on just 65 percent of their first serves, but Sabalenka converted on 42 percent of her second tries to Pegula’s 21 percent. Sabalenka’s strength was ultimately too much for the American, who frequently had issues chasing down the Belarusian’s backhands.

Sabalenka, the second seed, finishes a strong Slam season on a high note. Pegula, the sixth seed, will go back to the drawing board but should take some solace in her best performance in a Grand Slam to date.

Pegula had the first chance to break on Sabalenka’s second service game, converting on her first shot of a double break opportunity thanks to a shaky first serve from the Belarusian. An errant return gone wide by Pegula on the next game gave Sabalenka her first break attempt — and she converted, too. She then went on to take the next four games, and was serving for the set up 5-2.

A handful of mistakes from Sabalenka saw Pegula then take three straight games of her own to tie it back up and get back on serve. Trailing 5-6, Pegula fought off a double set point opportunity by Sabalenka, but couldn’t finish her off to force a tiebreak, and the Belarusian eventually managed the break on her fifth set point attempt.

In the second set, Sabalenka scored an early break and threatened a second, but Pegula held and then broke back to get back on serve. Pegula then scored a break of her own to lead, and had to fight off a quick break attempt by Sabalenka to take a 5-3 lead in the second frame. But Sabalenka cleaned up her own play and her power was eventually too much for Pegula to fight off, ending the match after two sets.

Sabalenka, 26, has had an extremely impressive couple of years on the court. In 2023, she made it to the semifinals of all four Grand Slams, something that hadn’t been done in a single year since Serena Williams in 2016. She made it to the US Open final in 2023 but was ultimately bested by American Coco Gauff, making Australia the only Slam she won going into Saturday’s match.

On her way to the final, Sabalenka faced four seeded opponents, the highest being No. 7 Qinwen Zheng in the quarterfinals. That was an impressive win for Sabalenka, who managed to down Zheng in straight sets, setting up a semifinals appearance against No. 13 Emma Navarro, who also fell in straight sets. The other two opponents were No. 29 Ekaterina Alexandrova in the third round and No. 33 Elise Mertens in the Round of 16.

Pegula, 30, has had the home crowd behind her all tournament, and the US Open has been her best Slam by far. She’s played some excellent tennis in recent years, but her best finishes at the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon were in the quarterfinals, though she didn’t make it there in any of them this year. Pegula is also notable as the daughter to Terry and Kim Pegula, owners of the Buffalo Bills of the NFL and Buffalo Sabres of the NHL.

Many thought it likely Pegula’s run would end when she ran into top seed Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals, but it was one of Pegula’s easier outings. Prior to her semifinal matchup, Pegula didn’t drop a set all tournament, picking up quality straight-set wins over Sofia Kenin and Swiatek along the way.

In the semifinals, she faced the unseeded Karolina Muchova and actually dropped the first set in lopsided fashion before cleanly taking sets two and three. Pegula had 10 career wins against top-five competition going into Saturday’s matchup with Sabalenka.

Below is a look at both Pegula and Sabalenka’s runs through the US Open to make it to the final. The men’s singles final is set for Sunday between American Taylor Fritz and top seed Jannik Sinner.

No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka’s route through the US Open
def. Priscilla Hon, 6-3, 6-3
def. Lucia Bronzetti, 6-3, 6-1
def. No. 29 Ekaterina Alexandrova 2-6, 1-6, 6-2
def. No. 33 Elise Mertens, 6-2, 6-4
def. No. 7 Qinwen Zheng, 6-1, 6-2
def. No. 13 Emma Navarro, 6-3, 7-6(2)
def. No. 6 Jessica Pegula, 7-5, 7-5

No. 6 Jessica Pegula’s route through the US Open
def. Shelby Rogers 6-4, 6-3
def. Sofia Kenin, 7-6(4), 6-3
def. Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, 6-3, 6-3
def. Diana Shnaider, 6-4, 6-2
def. No. 1 Iga Swiatek, 6-2, 6-4
def. Karolina Muchova, 1-6, 6-4, 6-2