Aryna Sabalenka is back on the brink in New York, still snarling, still swinging, still refusing to loosen her grip on the US Open.
The Belarusian’s drive for a third straight title at Flushing Meadows rolled on with a ruthless 7-5 6-2 dismantling of home favourite Jessica Pegula, a win that stretched her unbeaten run at the tournament to 20 matches and booked yet another final under the Arthur Ashe lights.
She will lose the world No.1 ranking on Monday. You would not have known it from the way she played.
Sabalenka, already a four-time major singles champion, admitted she came into this semi-final “desperate” to win. It showed early, and not in a good way. The opening set crackled with tension as she barked at herself, sprayed unforced errors and briefly allowed Pegula to dictate with clean, early strikes off both wings.
The American, at 32 the only semi-finalist still searching for a first Grand Slam title, settled first. On a sticky New York afternoon, Pegula’s compact, measured game looked ready-made to exploit Sabalenka’s impatience. The crowd sensed a shift. So did Sabalenka.
The pressure finally told – on Pegula.
At 5-5 in the first set, Sabalenka’s timing clicked. The feet moved quicker, the shoulders loosened, the groundstrokes stopped flying long and started ripping through the court. She broke for 6-5, stepped up to serve for the set, and slammed the door with the cold efficiency of a serial champion. From that moment, the contest tilted sharply.
Once ahead, she didn’t just raise her level. She tore away.
Sabalenka opened her shoulders in the second set and began to bully Pegula from the baseline, pounding 29 winners to the American’s 12 over the course of the match. Pegula, who had beaten Sabalenka in Berlin in June and carried that memory into this clash, suddenly looked stranded, searching for answers that weren’t there. Every short ball came back with interest. Every second serve felt like an invitation to punishment.
The head-to-head at the US Open now reads like a personal saga. Sabalenka denied Pegula in last year’s semi-finals. She did it again in the 2024 final, snatching what could have been a first major. Now she has added another chapter, another bruising reminder of the gap between a very good player and a truly great one on the biggest stage in American tennis.
No complaints, I am super happy to pull out such good tennis,” Sabalenka said on court, the edge of earlier frustration replaced by a broad smile. This was not just about one more win; it was about restoring an aura.
Her season had threatened to drift after that electric start. The “Sunshine Double” at Indian Wells and Miami in March underlined her status as the dominant hard-court force in the women’s game, but clay and grass told a different story. A quarter-final exit at Roland Garros, then a fourth-round departure at Wimbledon, raised fair questions about her form and her ability to carry the weight of expectation.
New York has answered them.
Since arriving at Flushing Meadows, Sabalenka has dropped only one set. She has not lost a match here since the 2023 final against Coco Gauff. On hard courts at the majors, she has been relentless: this run puts her alone in the Open era for consecutive Grand Slam hard-court finals, reaching every one on her preferred surface since the 2023 Australian Open.
Now comes the final step – and it will not be a gentle one.
Waiting for her on Saturday will be either Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina, the woman who will replace her at the top of the rankings, or American fourth seed Gauff, the last player to beat her in New York. Each opponent offers a different kind of threat: Rybakina with her own brand of ice-cold power, Gauff with athleticism, defence and the roars of a partisan crowd.
Sabalenka, though, is chasing history that belongs to giants. No woman has won three straight US Open singles titles since Serena Williams. Only Williams and Chris Evert have ever done it in the Open era. That is the company she is trying to keep now.
For Pegula, the story is more familiar and far more painful. Another deep run, another hard stop at the hands of the same rival. Another summer where consistency carried her to the sharp end of a Slam, only for the final step to prove a stride too far.
For Sabalenka, the path is clear. One more match, one more surge of controlled fury, and she will turn a nervous, uneven season into a year crowned by a Grand Slam and a slice of New York history.
