Sabalenka, Anisimova set up US Open final
Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka and American Amanda Anisimova will play the final of the US Open, the last Grand Slam tournament of the year, after winning their semifinal matches in three sets on Thursday in New York.
Sabalenka, the world No. 1 and defending champion, qualified for her second consecutive final at Flushing Meadows after defeating American Jessica Pegula (world No. 4) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, in a repeat of last year’s final, CE Report quotes AGERPRES.
Runner-up at both the Australian Open and Roland Garros, the three-time Grand Slam winner Sabalenka prevailed after two hours and five minutes of play and now leads Pegula 8-2 in their head-to-head encounters.
On Saturday, the Belarusian will try to become the first player in 11 years to win back-to-back titles in New York. The last to achieve this was American Serena Williams, who won three consecutive titles in 2012, 2013, and 2014.
Champion in Brisbane, Miami, and Madrid in the first half of the season, Sabalenka has not reached a final since Roland Garros.
Eliminated in the semifinals at Wimbledon in July, the Belarusian played only one tournament (the WTA 1000 in Cincinnati) to prepare for the US Open. As defending champion, she was knocked out in the quarterfinals in Ohio.
Sabalenka will keep her world No. 1 ranking regardless of the outcome of the Flushing Meadows final.
Aryna Sabalenka holds a 6-3 head-to-head record against Amanda Anisimova, who will play her second consecutive Grand Slam final after narrowly defeating Japan’s Naomi Osaka (world No. 24) 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (7/3), 6-3, in a match that lasted nearly three hours (2h 56min).
Anisimova, world No. 9, had been crushed 6-0, 6-0 by Poland’s Iga Swiatek in July in the Wimbledon final, but Swiatek took her revenge in the US Open semifinals.
For Osaka, this was her best Grand Slam run since returning to the tour in 2024 after giving birth to a daughter. The Japanese star will return to the top 20 following her performance in New York.
Anisimova had also won her first two encounters with Osaka, at the Australian Open and Roland Garros in 2022.
