Aryna Sabalenka Dominates New York: Aiming for Third Straight US Open Title

Aryna Sabalenka is not easing her grip on New York. She’s tightening it.

The Belarusian’s charge towards a third straight US Open crown rolled on under the Arthur Ashe lights as she overpowered home favourite Jessica Pegula 7-5, 6-2, extending her winning streak at Flushing Meadows to 20 matches and booking yet another final in a city that now feels like hers.

She will lose the world No.1 ranking on Monday, with Elena Rybakina set to take over, but Sabalenka played like a woman far more interested in silverware than numbers. The year-end Grand Slam title is still in reach, and she is refusing to let it go without a fight.

“I was so desperate to win, I wanted it badly,” she said, the emotion of another New York night still raw. “No complaints, I am super happy to pull out such good tennis.”

Early tension, then a familiar surge

For a while, Pegula had the crowd, the rhythm and the cleaner racket. Sabalenka had only frustration.

The opening set was tight, tense, and messy in patches. Sabalenka sprayed unforced errors, barking at herself between points, while Pegula settled quickly and struck through the court with the kind of clarity that had carried her to a rare semi-final breakthrough.

At 32, Pegula was the only woman left in the last four without a major title. She knew this opportunity, in her home Slam, might not come around often. She had also beaten Sabalenka in their most recent meeting on the Berlin grass in June. There was belief in her game and in her box.

But belief only lasts so long when Sabalenka finds her range.

At 6-5 in the first set, the four-time major singles champion finally locked in. The return bit deeper, the forehand started to detonate, and Pegula’s baseline comfort disappeared in a handful of brutal points. Sabalenka broke, snatched the set, and with it, the momentum.

The pressure finally told.

Pegula overrun again

Once Sabalenka has a lead in New York, history says she rarely lets it slip. Pegula knew that too well.

This was their third straight US Open meeting at the sharp end of the tournament, and once again, it turned into a one-way rush when it mattered. Sabalenka had denied Pegula a first Grand Slam title in the 2024 final. She had knocked her out in last year’s semi-finals. Here, the pattern hardened into something close to a rivalry script.

Pegula looked increasingly helpless as Sabalenka tore through the second set. The Belarusian hammered 29 winners to Pegula’s 12, flattening rallies with raw power and cleaner decision-making. The early errors vanished, replaced by heavy, precise hitting that pinned the American behind the baseline.

“Last time I played against Jessica, it was almost impossible for me to get the win so I am super happy to play such tennis, in front of you all,” Sabalenka told the crowd, a nod to that Berlin defeat and the turnaround since.

Pegula’s resistance faded quickly. Sabalenka’s confidence only grew.

Chasing Serena and history

Sabalenka’s relationship with this tournament has become something rare. She has now reached four consecutive US Open finals and has not lost a match here since the 2023 final defeat to Coco Gauff. Every time the draw comes out, her name sits like a looming problem for the rest of the field.

She is now aiming at a slice of history that belongs only to the giants. No woman has won three straight US Open singles titles since Serena Williams. In the Open era, only Williams and Chris Evert have done it. Sabalenka stands one win away from joining them.

That she is doing this in a season that has not been smooth makes the run even more striking. After a blistering start to 2024, capped by the prestigious “Sunshine Double” at Indian Wells and Miami, her form dipped. She fell in the Roland Garros quarter-finals, then exited Wimbledon in the fourth round. Questions circled about her readiness to defend in New York.

They look foolish now. She has dropped just one set en route to the final.

One more hard-court summit

The victory over Pegula also carried a quieter, but significant, mark: Sabalenka has now set an Open era record for consecutive Grand Slam hard-court finals, reaching every major final on the surface since the 2023 Australian Open. At 28, she has turned hard courts into her personal stage.

The last act of this US Open will come against either Elena Rybakina, the Australian Open champion and the woman about to take her No.1 ranking, or American star Coco Gauff, the player who denied her here a year ago.

Different opponents. Different storylines. But one constant.

Right now, in New York, Aryna Sabalenka is the standard everyone else has to chase.