NEW YORK — Aryna Sabalenka got past Jessica Pegula 7-5, 7-5 in a rollicking US Open women’s final Saturday to win her first championship at Flushing Meadows and third Grand Slam title of her career.
Sabalenka, a 26-year-old from Belarus, adds this trophy to the two she earned at the Australian Open each of the past two seasons, also on hard courts. She is the fifth different woman to win the Australian Open and US Open in the same year since 1988, when the Australian major switched to hardcourt.
The victory allowed her to leave Arthur Ashe Stadium in a far better mood than when she was the runner-up to Coco Gauff at the 2023 US Open. Sabalenka is the first woman since Serena Williams in 2012 to win the US Open after losing in the final the previous year.
The No. 6-seeded Pegula, a 30-year-old native New Yorker whose parents own the NFL’s Buffalo Bills and NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, was appearing in the first Grand Slam final of her career. She had been 0-6 in major quarterfinals until eliminating No. 1 Iga Swiatek in that round on Wednesday.
She’s won 15 of her past 17 matches over the past month but both losses came against Sabalenka in tournament finals.
Sabalenka concludes the Grand Slam calendar having won 37 of the 40 sets she’s played in majors this season (92.5%) — the highest percentage of sets won in majors by any woman in a year since Justine Henin in 2007 (min. 30 sets played).
The title match was played with the roof closed at Arthur Ashe Stadium after rain fell earlier Saturday. Among the crowd were Stephen Curry, Noah Lyles, Lewis Hamilton, Tina Fey, Anna Wintour and Andy Roddick, the last American man to win a major.
ESPN Stats & Information and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
