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topicnews · September 7, 2024

Tennis – US Open: Sabalenka wins final against Pegula

Tennis – US Open: Sabalenka wins final against Pegula

Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus in action at the US Open final.

Source: AP / Julia Nikhinson

Aryna Sabalenka fell on her back in the roaring Arthur Ashe Stadium and cheered: The 26-year-old from Belarus has perfected her personal hard court double strike and followed up her successful title defense in Melbourne with a coup at the US Open.

The world number two won the New York final 7:5, 7:5 against the American Jessica Pegula and lived up to her role as tournament favorite. After 1:53 hours, Sabalenka converted her second match point.

Third major victory for Sabalenka

Sabalenka, for whom this is her third major triumph, is the first fifth player to win the trophies in Australia and the USA in one season. Previously, Steffi Graf (1988, 89) and Angelique Kerber (2016) had also achieved this feat. Pegula, who made it past the quarterfinals at a major for the first time, will have to wait for a major coup.
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Last year, Sabalenka had already made a run for the title in New York, but suffered a surprise defeat in the final against Coco Gauff and then took out her frustration on her racket in the dressing room. Now, as she did recently in Cincinnati, she prevailed in the duel between the two hard court specialists.

Fastest forehand of the tournament

In the run-up to the final, Sabalenka caused a stir with a statistic: her whipped forehand was measured as the fastest of the tournament – for men and women. At 129 kilometers per hour, she even surpassed Carlos Alcaraz (127 km/h) and Jannik Sinner (126 km/h).

And Sabalenka also used her signature shot against Pegula, who, with the support of the crowd, had big plans. At 30 years and 196 days old, she wanted to be the first third player to win her first Grand Slam tournament over the age of 30 since the introduction of professional tennis in 1968. Previously, Ann Jones had succeeded in doing so in 1969 at Wimbledon and Flavia Pennetta in 2015 in New York.

American Jessica Pegula in action during the final of the US Open.

The American Jessica Pegula at the final of the US Open.

Source: AP

But it wasn’t enough. The US hopeful said she felt “pretty good” before the first serve and resolved not to let her emotions get the better of her in the special atmosphere.

Pegula started stronger and gave Sabalenka a powerful exchange of blows from the baseline. Then the Belarusian turned up the heat and took control, but towards the end of the first set she showed nerves again. Sabalenka was able to let her arm run even more, feeling that she had achieved an interim victory. But Pegula came back again, but could not prevent the painful defeat.

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Source: ZDF

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Source: dpa, SID

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