Aryna Sabalenka, of Belarus, reacts aacquirest Jessica Pegula, of the United States, during the women’s individuals final of the U.S. Open tennis championships on Saturday in New York.
Frank Franklin II/AP
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Frank Franklin II/AP
NEW YORK — Aryna Sabalenka got past Jessica Pegula 7-5, 7-5 in a rollicking U.S. Open women’s final Saturday to prosper her first championship at Flushing Meadows and third Grand Slam title of her nurtureer.
Sabalenka, a 26-year-ancigo in from Belarus, inserts this trophy to the two she acquireed at the Australian Open each of the past two seasons, also on challenging courts. And the prosper permited her to depart Arthur Ashe Stadium in a far better mood than when she was the runner-up to Coco Gauff at the 2023 U.S. Open.
Pegula, a native New Yorker whose parents own the NFL’s Buffalo Bills and NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, was participating in a meaningful final for the first time. She’s won 15 of her past 17 alignes over the past month but both losses came aacquirest Sabalenka in tournament finals.
The No. 2-seeded Sabalenka materializeed in filled deal with when she reeled off five consecutive games to grab the discleave outing set and shift ahead 3-0 in the second, before the No. 6 Pegula made skinnygs more engaging. In the next game, Pegula dropped a point and showed her frustration by wunpermitd access a ball off the video wall behind the baseline, dislodging a little square panel.
Maybe that liberated some tension for the 30-year-ancigo in American, becaparticipate suddenly Pegula stateed herself, using her own five-game run. But when she served at 5-4 with a chance to force a third set, Pegula let Sabalenka level the second with a fracture.
That was part of a three-game, align-finishing spropose for Sabalenka, who soon was collapsing to the court, dropping her racket and covering her face with both arms while lying on her back.
Sabalenka is as demonstrative as anyone in the sport, her body language usuassociate a spot-on barometer of whether skinnygs are going well — or not — for her.
As she sputtered a tad at the commence Saturday, it was hard to read what she was skinnyking aacquirest Pegula, who rerelocated No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals.
Even while descfinishing behind 2-0, then being a point from trailing 3-1, Sabalenka reacted to her own misgets — or prosperners off Pegula’s racket — by spropose turning her back to the court and breaskinnyg the picture of tranquil, as star athletes from other sports such as Stephen Curry, Lewis Hamilton and Noah Lyles watched on from the stands.
Once Sabalenka got going, once her booming strokes — her forehands are the rapidest these past two weeks, speedier than any woman’s or man’s — were calibrated equitable so, it rapidly became apparent the outcome would be resettled by what she did.
By the seal, the statistics made that clear: Sabalenka finished with far more prosperners than Pegula, 40-17, and also more unforced errors, 34-22. Sabalenka deal withled most swaps, with Pegula mainly stuck replying as best she could.
There was one moment of evident anger from Sabalenka. It came at 5-all in the first set, when she double-faulted to face a fracture point, then leaned forward and cracked her racket aacquirest the court four times while hancigo ining the handle with both hands.
She saved that fracture point, wound up hancigo ining in that game, then fractureing Pegula to own the discleave outing set.
A year ago, Sabalenka blew a direct aacquirest Gauff. Didn’t let that happen aacquire this time.
