Sabalenka defeats Pegula to reach US Open final and chase third straight title
World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka beat Jessica Pegula 7-5, 6-2 in the US Open semi-final, moving one win away from a possible three-peat while her hold on the No. 1 ranking is set to end.
Aryna Sabalenka advanced to the US Open women's final on Thursday, overcoming Jessica Pegula 7-5, 6-2 in the semi-final at Arthur Ashe Stadium. The top-seeded Belarusian produced 29 winners and did not lose her serve, facing only one break point during the match.
Pegula, the third seed, struggled to counter Sabalenka’s power, managing just five points on her second serve. She said, "> I don’t know who pissed her off today. Hopefully it wasn’t me totally, but might have been. She played at a super-high level. I don’t really know if there was much I could do today."
Sabalenka responded, "I felt like whatever decision I would make, it is the right decision. Against Jess today it was definitely a better level from me."
The win marks Sabalenka’s 19th consecutive victory at Flushing Meadows and puts her one match away from becoming the third woman to win three consecutive US Open titles, after Chris Evert and Serena Williams. She will meet Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina in the final on Saturday.
A separate ranking update will see Sabalenka’s 99-week tenure as world No. 1 end, a development she downplayed, stating, "> I don’t care. Not much I could do about that, but I can only focus on myself and stay in the moment."
Sabalenka’s path to the semi-final included straight-set wins over Camila Osorio, Polina Iatcenko, Kamilla Rakhimova and Taylor Townsend, and a three-set quarter-final victory over Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova.