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NEW YORK — Aryna Sabalenka beat Jessica Pegula in the U.S. Open final at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, 7-5, 7-5, on Saturday.
The No. 2 seed prevailed over the No. 6 seed in a tight, edgy match full of momentum swings and key moments. Pegula put Sabalenka under serious return pressure, but the Belarusian came through that — and the scar tissue of last year’s defeat to Coco Gauff on Arthur Ashe Stadium — to take the match and the title.
It is Sabalenka’s first U.S. Open title and her third Grand Slam title overall. She is the only women’s player to hold two Grand Slam titles simultaneously this year, having won the Australian Open in January.
The Athletic’s writers, Charlie Eccleshare and Matt Futterman, analyze the final and what it means for tennis.
How did Pegula’s returning frazzle her opponent — until it didn’t?
Going into the match, two of Sabalenka’s main concerns were a hostile crowd and Pegula’s ability to hustle and get returns back into play.
In the first set, these two fears combined. Pegula produced an extremely effective returning performance and the crowd feasted on it as she played on its energy. The combination seriously unsettled Sabalenka and led the Belarusian 5-2 before narrowly avoiding being 5-6 down.
Pegula had returned well all match — breaking in the third game — by the time Sabalenka came out to serve for the set at 5-3. The American No. 6 seed wasn’t just returning serves that would have won the point for Sabalenka against pretty much any other player, she was returning them well with height and spin to the back of the court, forcing Sabalenka to overpress on her first strikes.
Eventually, the pressure paid, helped by a crowd that rose from a murmur to a roar whenever Pegula forced a break point: First when the previous point was over and then again when Sabalenka stepped up to the line. The serve +1 — hitting a serve, then winning the point on the next shot — is one of Sabalenka’s biggest weapons, but having to hit so many was clearly affecting her.
She double-faulted and then missed a couple of +1 shots to hand over the break. In the first set, 11 of the 23 (48 per cent) service points Sabalenka lost were +1 shots.
Jessica Pegula was able to force first-strike errors off Aryna Sabalenka’s serve (Luke Hales / Getty Images)
In her next service game, at 5-5, Sabalenka double-faulted twice more, slamming her racket four times after the first one and landing the second serve close to the baseline on the second.
On both occasions, the crowd went wild. A break for Pegula here would have left her serving for the set and might have sent Sabalenka spiralling, as happened in last year’s final against an American player. Instead, Sabalenka dug out the hold and her reaction underlined what an important moment this was.
Pegula lost the set 7-5 in the next game but had given herself an excellent chance of winning it, returning so well that she chipped away at all of her opponent’s insecurities, which would come to the fore in the second set.
Charlie Eccleshare
How did Sabalenka use her new tennis tools to win the match?
In a tight match, every tennis player has to decide when to shift away from Plan A and try something new. The idea is to move their opponent out of their comfort zone, but it can discomfort the player making the change just as much.
It’s a decision fraught with opportunity and danger. Moving out of the comfort zone, even for a point, is an admission that the tried-and-true either isn’t working or isn’t going to be enough. If the risk doesn’t pay off, the player opens herself up to criticism for not going with the strongest part of her arsenal in the crucial moments.
For Sabalenka, those moments arrived in the 12th game of the first set when she was trying to get halfway to the finish line, having missed a golden opportunity when she served for the first set at 5-3.
At 6-5, with Pegula serving, she had the American under pressure. Sabalenka was piling up set points as Pegula desperately tried to push it to a tiebreak.
Aryna Sabalenka moved away from her high-power game in decisive moments and it worked (Angela Weiss / AFP via Getty Images)
What’s a power player to do? Sabalenka’s answer Saturday was to pull the string. She worked all last off-season on developing a more well-rounded game so that when the overpowering strokes went wild — as they did today — she would have more tools to deploy. Drop shots, volleys, low, slicing approach shots.
Late in that decisive game, she decided to open the toolbox and see what might come in handy.
A soft, short slice from inside the baseline, usually her attack zone, brought Pegula into the net and produced the chance for Sabalenka to slither a forehand passing shot down the line, holding it until the last moment. Moments later, Sabalenka pushed into the court and stuck a difficult low volley back behind Pegula that kept her in the game.
And then, on her fourth set point, out came the drop shot. Pegula, pinned deep to guard against the blast, never had a chance.
A year ago against Coco Gauff, Sabalenka had no answers when she needed to create opportunities from adversity, other than to keep swinging.
She dedicated months of work to making sure that never happened again. On Saturday in New York, that work paid off.
Matt Futterman
Sabalenka gets through scar tissue from 2023
Sabalenka may very well trademark “Not this time.”
Last year when the the Coco Gauff train started running downhill, Sabalenka was powerless to stop it and Gauff didn’t buckle at all.
Pegula will probably have some sleepless nights over the 10th game of the second set after pretty much everything had gone sideways for Sabalenka for more than half an hour.
Pegula, who had been a point from a 0-4 deficit, was serving for the second set at 5-4, having played stellar tennis to win five of the previous six games.
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“Not this time.”
Suddenly, Pegula’s strokes lost a bit of steam and Sabalenka seized the moment. She flicked a backhand volley to get the pressure going for 0-30. Then she watched Pegula make the backhand error on a rally ball instead of her. Then the dagger — a winner down the line for 5-5.
She didn’t lose another game.
A tale of two reactions for Sabalenka?
Managing her emotions after last year was always going to be key in this match and a couple of Sabalenka reactions to forehand winners told a story of how even within this contest she had to go on a journey. Early in the first set, Pegula had a point on her serve for 2-2, which Sabalenka won with a ripped forehand crosscourt that flew past her opponent. She let out a roar of celebration, venting the frustration of having lost her serve in the previous game and feeling as though she hadn’t fully settled.
Aryna Sabalenka hit a scorching forehand winner to avoid going 1-3 down to Jessica Pegula (Timothy A. Clary / AFP via Getty Images)
Towards the end of the second, Sabalenka sealed another break with a forehand winner — this one down the line and this one even more crucial. It won her the game at 5-4, Pegula serving to take the match into a third set. This time there was no big reaction from Sabalenka, who instead walked back to the line and prepared to serve in the next game. The roar was what was needed early on to get her going; now she needed to calm herself down and focus. Given the circumstances, this was an exceptionally mature emotional performance from Sabalenka.
Charlie Eccleshare
What did Aryna Sabalenka say after the final?
On-court: “Finally I got this beautiful trophy, it means a lot, it’s been a very difficult two weeks.
“I’m sure that one day you’re going to get one — well, not one, maybe more,” she said to Pegula.
“I remembered all the tough losses in the past here,” Sabalenka said.
“If you keep working hard and sacrificing everything for a dream, you’re going to get there one day. I’m super proud of myself, I never say that.”
What did Jessica Pegula say after the final?
On-court: “It’s been an incredible month to be able to be standing here in my first Grand Slam final,” the American said.
“I wish you would have at least let me get one set,” she said to Sabalenka.
In her press conference:
On friends coming to watch her: “They know how it is. Maybe they played or they understand by now that we don’t live a normal life. So with how many things I’ve had to miss, for them to kind of come in and see this is why. That’s really cool.”
On the atmosphere: “I think with the roof being closed it felt even louder. It was a really cool atmosphere, really cool experience. Obviously I was trying to at some point to take it all in.”
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(Top photo: Kirsty Wigglesworth / Associated Press)
