NEW YORK (AP) — Aryna Sabalenka moved a win away from her third straight U.S. Open title, beating Jessica Pegula 7-5, 6-2 on Thursday night.
Sabalenka blasted her way out of what was a dead-even match for most of the first set, pouncing on Pegula's second serves and turning the second set into perhaps her most impressive stretch of tennis in the tournament.
“No complaints,” Sabalenka said. “I’m just super happy that I was able to pull out such tennis.”
The No. 1 seed will face No. 2 Elena Rybakina or No. 4 Coco Gauff on Saturday, needing a victory to become the first player to win three in a row in Flushing Meadows since Serena Williams from 2012-14.
Rybakina will replace Sabalenka atop the women’s tennis rankings next week, and Sabalenka said this week she would be fine ceding No. 1 after she held it 99 consecutive weeks if it she was able to win another U.S. Open trophy.
It will be hard to prevent that if she hits the ball Saturday the way she did against Pegula.
Sabalenka pounded 29 winners to Pegula's 12, turning their third straight meeting at the end of the U.S. Open into a rout, after her victory in the 2024 final and 2025 semifinals were tight most of the way.
“I was so desperate for the win, I wanted it badly,” Sabalenka said.
She has won 19 straight matches at the U.S. Open since losing to Gauff in the 2023 final.
The top four seeds made it to the women’s semifinals at the U.S. Open for the first time since 1975. Sabalenka, Rybakina and Gauff have all won multiple major titles, while Pegula is still looking for her first.
The native of Buffalo, New York, hoped it would come at her favorite Grand Slam tournament on her strongest surface, but unfortunately for her the hard courts are also where Sabalenka’s power is more relentless.
She won 14 of 19 points on Pegula’s second serve, smashing balls back more quickly than they were coming at her.
Still, Pegula hung with her for a while.
It was already 4-all in 25 minutes and Sabalenka appeared to be getting frustrated with not getting anywhere on Pegula’s serve, waving at her coaches' box in disgust after one miss. Pegula had won 18 of 20 points on her first serve when she stepped to the line serving with Sabalenka leading 6-5.
Then Sabalenka suddenly hit a backhand winner, Pegula sent a forehand long and Sabalenka hit another winner to set up a set point, and finished off the set a couple points later.
Sabalenka put Pegula in huge trouble in her second service game of the second set, eventually pouncing on a 77 mph second serve and hammering a forehand back at 90 mph then Pegula had no chance of getting back for a 3-1 lead.
Sabalenka said this week she loved playing against Pegula, who had the most wins and shared the most hard-court wins on tour this season, because it was an opponent who could put her under pressure and force her to respond when challenged.
When she did, the No. 3 seed couldn't keep up.
Pegula finally showed frustration when Sabalenka hit a powerful low passing shot that Pegula could only volley back into the net, throwing her racket to the court.
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