Aryna Sabalenka clinched the US Open title with a thrilling straight sets victory over Jessica Pegula. (More Tennis News)
A remarkable encounter swung one way and then the🔯 other at Flushing Meadows, before ༒Sabalenka - who lost to Coco Gauff in the 2023 final - finally prevailed 7-7 7-5 in just under two hours on Saturday.
The Australian Open champion won her third major title at the culmination of an ⭕extraordinary comeback in the second set, after Pegula had won five consecutive matches to claw back from the brink herself.
Backed on by a partisan crowd, Pegula wasted little time in unsettlin🧜g Sabalenka, taking the first two points on the Belarusian's serve and, despite t♏he world number two fighting back, it was the American who clinched the first break in game three.
൩Yet Sabalenka responded with force, breaking twice in succ🤪ession to storm into a 4-2 lead.
Pegula scrapped back with another break,🅰 and after saving four set poinܫts, clawed herself within one shot of taking the lead.
A stunning Sabalenka volley f♕orced deuce, though, and a double-fault from Pജegula suggested the pressure was starting to show.
Sabalenka firmlꦚy reset as she cruised into a 3-0 lead in set two, but a strong hold of serve saw Pegula get on the boar🥀d.
Unforced errors handed Pegula a reprieve, which she duly tooℱk, and the fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium were on their feet when the siﷺxth seed held her nerve to restore parity in the next game.
The jubilation only continued as Sabalen♕ka slipped up again for Pegula to complete the turnaround, before thwarting a fightback from her opponent to win a fifth game on the spin.
But against the odds, Sabalenka hit back ferociously, reeling off two games to turn the tables yet again. A first championship point we🍬nt begging when the second set clipped the net, but when Pegula returned long from a venomous volley, Sabalenka's triumph was confirmed.
Second time lucky
It was heartbreak for Sabalenka at ꦚFlushing Meadows last season, but after skipping the Olympics to prepare for the hard-court swing, she has proven a worthy champion in New York this time around.
This final featured the two players who have dominated this season's Norꦅth American swing, but Sabalenka ultimately had too much for world number six Pegula.
Sabalenka is the sixth defending runner-up to win the US Open women's singl♊es title in the Open Era, after Evert (1980), Navratilova (1986), Graf (1988 and 1995), Henin (2007) and Ser🎃ena Williams (2002 and 2012).
She is the🐠 fifth female, meanwhile, in the Open Era to win two major titles on hard court in the same season after Graf (1988 and 1989), Seles (1991 and 1992), Hingis (1997) and Kerber🔥 (2016).
However, she is the first player to finish the season with the🙈 most grand slam match wins (💃18, level with Jasmine Paolini this year) for successive years since Serena Williams in 2015 and 2016.
Iga Swiatek is understandably the leading light of women's tennis, but Sabalenka is truly worth her place 🃏alongside the Pole as a modern great.
Pegula no pushover
Midway through set two, Pegula looked down and out 3-0 down, yet the powers of recovery she displayed suggests that a maiden major title is within touching distance for the 30-year-old, who was competing in her first grand slam final. She ജis only the third player to do so after ౠturning 30.
She is the fourth player in the Open Era to reach singles finals at the Canadian Open, Cincinnati Open and the US🐷 Open in the same year.
Pegula is one oℱf just five players in the past decade to defeat three former grand slam finalists en route to the US Open final. Each of the previous four went on to win the event – Flavia Pennetta (2015), Angelique Kerber (2016), Sloane Stephens (2017) and Gauff (2023).
While that was not to be the case for Pegula this time around, there is nothing to say ꧋she cannot come back s🤡tronger next year, just like Sabalenka.
