World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka is one win away from her third successive US Open crown thanks to a flawless straight-sets display against American third seed Jessica Pegula in Thursday afternoon’s semi-final match.
The top seed saw off Pegula 7-5, 6-2 on Arthur Ashe Stadium, booking her place in Saturday’s final to keep her quest alive of joining Chris Evert and Serena Williams as the only women with three successive titles in New York.
Sabalenka stamps her authority on proceedings.
The US Open number one was kept on serve during a tight opening set that looked destined to go beyond the opening exchange of breaks midway through, but Sabalenka finally broke Pegula at the crucial moment of 6-5. She set up three set points, then converted her second one with a forehand into the net.
She carried her impetus into the second set, launching herself at Pegula’s second serve, breaking her once more for 3-1 with a powerful forehand into the corner. The Belarusian achieved another breakthrough before smashing one final winner off an 119mph forehand on match point.
She had seven aces and hit 29 winners to reach yet another final, beating American Pegula in each of her last two US Open winning campaigns that produced the 2024 and 2025 titles. She faces second seed Elena Rybakina or fourth seed Coco Gauff on Saturday; however will hand over the world No.1 ranking to Rybakina no matter what.
