Aryna Sabalenka successfully defended her US Open title with a 6-3, 7-6 (3) victory over Amanda Anisimova. The world number one, who had endured a season of near-misses and heartbreak in finals, held her nerve during a late surge from Anisimova to secure her fourth grand slam title.
Sabalenka now joins Kim Clijsters, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Naomi Osaka and Hana Mandlikova on four major titles. Her hard-court dominance is evident, with all four titles coming at the Australian and US Opens, and she has reached six consecutive hard-court grand slam finals.
The match saw both players produce fearless attacking tennis. After a nervous start, Anisimova worked her way in with powerful groundstrokes, but Sabalenka's composure and superior margin proved decisive. Anisimova was ultimately undone by unforced errors under pressure.
Sabalenka faced a potential turning point in the second set when she misjudged a smash while serving for the match at 5-4. Anisimova broke back and held to force a tie-break, but Sabalenka regained control, winning it 7-3. Remarkably, she has now won 19 consecutive tie-breaks since February.
Reflecting on the final, Sabalenka acknowledged the lessons from earlier losses this season, particularly her French Open final defeat to Coco Gauff where she lost emotional control. 'After those two finals where I completely lost control over my emotions, I just didn’t want that to happen again,' she said. 'I had to stay focused.'
