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NEW YORK — Aryna Sabalenka is back in the U.S. Open final.
With a withering display of power, finesse, and then resolve, the No. 2 seed Sabalenka beat No. 13 seed Emma Navarro 6-3, 7-6(2), to reach her second consecutive final in New York.
It helped that she had sort of played this match before.
She had been under the lights at Arthur Ashe Stadium, in front of nearly 24,000 people, with the stadium desperate to explode behind an upstart American. Last year, Coco Gauff and this crowd wrecked her night in the final, as Gauff snatched a lead and then the title out of her hands.
Sabalenka was not going to let that happen this time around, no matter how badly the Billie Jean King Tennis Center faithful wanted Navarro, their native New Yorker, to pull off another stadium-shaking upset.
Sabalenka is a different person and player than she was a year ago, and that became evident midway through the first set. To begin with, it had looked routine. She had surged to an early lead with a brutal display of hitting, only to let Navarro draw even.
Sabalenka then got back on top, but Navarro wasn’t going away. She was chasing down balls and making the Belarusian hit extra shots, faster and with less margin than before.
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That strategy rattled Sabalenka a year ago, because she only had one response. Hit the ball as hard as she could, and if that didn’t work, try to hit it even harder. That’s what Navarro and everyone else assumed she would do, in the face of the No. 13 seed’s court craft and deceptively aggressive defense.
Instead, Sabalenka broke out the new tools in her box.
With Navarro hanging back behind the baseline, waiting for the fastball, Sabalenka looped an angled backhand onto the sideline, so high up the court that even Navarro and her remarkable footspeed couldn’t cover it. Two points later, Navarro was deep again. Sabalenka wound up for another blast, or another angle, because Navarro no longer knew what was coming. She had to guess. Sabalenka pulled the string on a drop shot, and it slumped perfectly over the net.
Aryna Sabalenka used a new, richer texture of tennis to beat Emma Navarro in the U.S. Open semifinal. (Julia Nikhinson / Associated Press)
For years, the way to beat Sabalenka was to absorb her power, and then to remind yourself that each of those 80 mph forehands are only worth one point. Make her hit enough of them, especially in a big match, and they would start flying wide, or darting into the middle of the net. When those strokes have been in motion with big trophies and places in Grand Slam finals on the line, they have too often turned into errors, keeping her from where she wants to be.
Before that, you could just wait for her to serve one double fault, and then three, and then 10 more. She doesn’t do that anymore. She doesn’t let her groundstrokes go away either.
Sabalenka spent last December finding so many other ways to win, and now, when healthy, she almost always does. There she is at the net, finishing points with volleys into the front of the court, or cutting a drop shot. There she is looping a backhand that rips off the ground instead of skidding through it, setting up the final blast to be hit from closer, safer ground. The power, the biggest in the game, becomes that much more powerful.
Aryna Sabalenka’s path to the final
| Round | Opponent | Nationality | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
|
SF |
Emma Navarro (13) |
U.S. |
6-2, 7-6(2) |
|
QF |
Zheng Qinwen (7) |
China |
6-1, 6-2 |
|
R16 |
Elise Mertens (33) |
Belgium |
6-2, 6-4 |
|
R32 |
Ekaterina Alexandrova (29) |
Russia |
2-6, 6-1, 6-2 |
|
R64 |
Lucia Bronzetti |
Italy |
6-3, 6-1 |
|
R128 |
Priscilla Hon |
Australia |
6-3, 6-3 |
For anyone standing on the other side of the net, it’s all a bit terrifying. Not that anyone would know it when looking at Navarro, who may possess the greatest poker face in the sport right now. In an era of fist pumps and “come ons!!!” she plays with a quiet serenity, which goes hand-in hand with what is usually a dangerous consistency and an ability to go on the attack with a flick of her elbow.
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For two years opponents have not known what to make of that serenity. Is she really that cool and calm? No, she swears, but she sure seemed it Thursday night, with Sabalenka serving to close out the match. How else to explain her sizzling forehand down the line to get her two break points, and then the blocked backhand return that Sabalenka couldn’t get back.
After keeping the house quiet nearly all night, Sabalenka was finally playing 24,001 opponents.
“No guys, not this time,” Sabalenka said on court, after she had them cheering for her instead at the end.
Emma Navarro staged a stirring second-set comeback, spurred on by the Arthur Ashe crowd. (Kena Betancur / AFP via Getty Images)
Two games after the stadium erupted for Navarro, she and Sabalenka were in a tiebreak, and the Belarusian brought her toolbox out again. The power; the slicing backhand and the drop volley.
Navarro ran everywhere. She always does.
But a tennis court can be a very big place, and Sabalenka used every inch of it to bring up four match points.
Then she ended matters, following one of her softest shots of the night with one of her hardest, spiking a last overhead off the court and into the stands.
Not this time. Sabalenka is on her way.
(Top photo: Robert Deutsch / Imagn Images)
