Aryna Sabalenka acknowledged she was probably going to lose the No. 1 ranking to Elena Rybakina and could not do much about it. The US Open title is a different matter, and she made that clear Thursday in a dominant 7-5, 6-2 semifinal win over Jessica Pegula.
The two-time defending champion could become the first player to win three consecutive US Open titles since Serena Williams from 2012 to 2014. She said she wanted badly to reach the final and of course wants to go all the way.
Elena Rybakina set up the final by beating No. 4 seed Coco Gauff 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the second semifinal, rallying past a strong early start from the American to reach her first US Open final.
The Sabalenka-Pegula match
She pounded 29 winners to Pegula’s 12. She has won 19 consecutive matches at the US Open since losing to Gauff in the 2023 final. The two played largely even through the first set until Sabalenka broke away late, taking a 7-5 first set before dominating the second.
At 4-4 in the first set, Sabalenka appeared frustrated and waved at her coaches’ box in disgust after a miss. Pegula had won 18 of 20 points on her first serve when she served at 5-6, and had been a difficult player to break all match. Then she hit a backhand winner, Pegula sent a forehand long and she hit another winner to set up set point, closing it shortly after.
In the second set, she went after Pegula’s second serve, once pouncing on a 77 mph delivery and hammering a forehand back at 90 mph. Pegula had no chance and fell behind 3-1. She ran away from there.
Pegula said she thought Sabalenka’s level was insanely high and that it was probably the best match she had played all year. She said she was not sure anyone else would have kept it closer.
The Rybakina-Gauff match
Gauff took the first set in 38 minutes with strong serving, holding a 4-to-1 advantage in aces over Rybakina, who leads the WTA Tour in that category. Rybakina said she had to take a deep breath, talk positively to herself and commit to fighting and showing good tennis.
She did. The Kazakh won the second set after Gauff battled from 1-4 down to tie it 4-4, then pulled away. In the third, she served for the match at 5-3, Gauff broke, but she closed it out anyway.
Gauff said it came down to a couple of her service games in both sets that she did not hold. She said Rybakina does a great job of being present on every point and applying pressure on both serve and return. Former first lady Michelle Obama was in the crowd.
The rankings
Sabalenka held the No. 1 WTA ranking for 99 consecutive weeks before yielding it to Rybakina, who clinched the top spot by reaching the semifinals. She said Elena took it over by playing really well while she had a poor summer. Rybakina had beaten Sabalenka to win the Australian Open at the start of the season.
The women’s final Saturday will feature the top two players in the world. It is also the first time since 1975 that the top four seeds all advanced to the US Open women’s semifinals.
