Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka
will face Amanda Anisimova in the U.S. Open women's final
[September 05, 2025]
By HOWARD FENDRICH
NEW YORK (AP) — On Aryna Sabalenka's first chance to end her U.S.
Open semifinal against Jessica Pegula and earn the chance to play
for a second consecutive trophy at Flushing Meadows, the defending
champion dumped what should have been an easy overhead into the net,
then stared at the ground.
On Sabalenka's second chance, she missed a clumsy volley — and later
acknowledged she shouldn't have ventured forward, because she went
just 15 for 27 when up at the net. Uh, oh.
So good at important moments in the high-stakes, high-tension final
set, Sabalenka held it together there and held on, converting her
third match point Thursday night for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over
Pegula in a rematch of last year’s final.
“I was super emotional. I was just like, ‘Oh, my gosh, no way it’s
happening. Please, just close this match,’” Sabalenka explained
afterward. “The whole match, I just keep telling myself: (Onto) the
next one, just one step at a time, don’t worry about the past. Just
try better in the next point.”
When it was over, Sabalenka rocked back on her heels, spread her
arms and screamed.
On Saturday, when she faces No. 8 Amanda Anisimova in the final, the
No. 1-seeded Sabalenka will be trying to become the first woman to
claim consecutive championships at Flushing Meadows since Serena
Williams got three in a row from 2012 to 2014.
Anisimova eliminated No. 23 Naomi Osaka 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3), 6-3 in a
match that ended at nearly 1 a.m. to reach her second straight major
final. At Wimbledon in July, Anisimova was the runner-up to Iga
Swiatek, who beat her 6-0, 6-0 in the title match.
But Anisimova recovered from that well enough, and quickly enough,
to get past Swiatek in two sets in the U.S. Open quarterfinals.
Now Anisimova, a 24-year-old who was born in New Jersey and grew up
in Florida, gets another shot at winning her first Grand Slam
trophy.
She is the first opponent to beat Osaka this late in a Grand Slam
tournament. Before this loss, Osaka had been a combined 13-0 over
her career in major quarterfinals, semifinals and finals.
Like Osaka vs. Anisimova, Thursday's first semifinal was quite close
— closer than the straight-set triumph for Sabalenka over Pegula 12
months ago that gave the 27-year-old from Belarus her third Grand
Slam title, all on hard courts.
Since then, Sabalenka was the runner-up to Madison Keys at the
Australian Open in January and to Gauff at the French Open in June,
then was eliminated in the Wimbledon semifinals by Anisimova in
July.
Arthur Ashe Stadium’s retractable roof was shut before the
semifinals began, which prevented disruption from the wind outside
gusting at up to 30 mph and the rain that arrived during play.
In the good, indoor conditions, No. 4 Pegula played about as cleanly
as possible in the first set and the third, making just three
unforced errors in each. But in the second, that count was nine.
[to top of second column] |
Aryna Sabalenka, of Belarus, serves to Jessica Pegula, of the United
States, during the women's singles semifinals of the U.S. Open
tennis championships, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025, in New York. (AP
Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
By the end, Sabalenka had accumulated more than
twice as many winners as Pegula, 43-21.
“We were pushing each other,” Pegula said, “every single game.”
All evening, Pegula went after her returns, taking big cuts and not
playing it safe, by any means. This, then, was the key: Sabalenka
was able to save all four break points she faced in the last set.
“It was really high-level. I don’t really know what else to say,”
said Pegula, who was wearing a white New York Yankees jacket and
enjoying a root beer lollipop at her news conference. “I don’t know
how I didn’t break back in the third.”
Asked how she managed to handle those moments, Sabalenka replied
with a laugh: “Just praying inside and hoping for the best.”
Neither she nor Pegula had lost a set in the tournament before
Thursday, although Sabalenka only needed to go through four matches,
instead of five, to reach the semifinals, because her quarterfinal
opponent, Marketa Vondrousova, withdrew with an injured knee.
That meant Sabalenka hadn’t competed since Sunday.
Might she be rusty? Sure didn’t look that way at the outset, and
Sabalenka used a nifty drop-shot-volley-winner combination to help
go up a break and grab a 4-2 lead.
But Pegula didn’t fold. In the next game, with the thousands in the
stands roaring for every point gained by the American, Sabalenka
netted off-balance groundstrokes on two points in a row and
double-faulted to get broken right back.
Sabalenka shook her head and slammed her arms by her side. That
ended her run of 32 consecutive holds, and she draped a white towel
over her head at the changeover. Pegula then broke again to cap a
four-game run that wrapped up the set and, this time, Sabalenka
quickly retrieved her bag and headed off to the locker room.
When she came back, Sabalenka elevated her play — and steadied her
mind when necessary.
“I will go out there on Saturday,” she said, "and I'll fight for
every point like the last point of my life.”
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