Aryna Sabalenka is a three-time Grand Slam winner.
No. 2 Sabalenka defeated No. 6 Jessica Pegula of the United States in straight sets Saturday to win the U.S. Open 7-5, 7-5.
Sabalenka is now the first woman to win the U.S. Open and Australian Open in the same year since Germany’s Angelique Kerber in 2016.
Sabalenka, who adds the U.S. Open title to her consecutive Australian Open wins, is currently ranked as the world’s No. 2 singles player by the Women’s Tennis Association.
Her win on Saturday had fans clamoring for her to regain her top spot from reigning No. 1 Iga Świątek.
Pegula upset Swiatek in the quarterfinal on her way to face Sabalenka in the title match.
The win marked redemption for Sabalenka, who also made it to the final of the 2023 U.S. Open.
Sabalenka took the first set against the United States’ Coco Gauff, but Gauff came back to stifle the Belarusian star’s title hopes by claiming a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 win.
This marked the second straight victory for Sabalenka in matchups against Pegula, whom she also defeated in the final of the Cincinnati Open in August.
Saturday’s match was a tightly-contested battle as Pegula won five straight games to come within one serve of a set point in the second set.
Although Sabalenka came back to claim the straight-set win, fans were still impressed by Pegula’s performance, especially as her run to the final involved an upset victory over the world No. 1.
Sabalenka, who is riding a 12-match winning streak, has now won 27 of her last 28 hard-court contests.
She and Kerber join Stefanie Graf, Monica Seles and Martina Hingis as the only women to win two hard-court Opens in the same year, per the WTA.
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