Sabalenka Crowned US Open Champion For The First Time

Aryna Sabalenka, US Open
Aryna Sabalenka (photo: Jürgen Hasenkopf)

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON, September 8, 2024 (by Michael Dickens)

With perseverance and power, Aryna Sabalenka won her first US Open singles title – her second major of the 2024 season after winning the Australian Open – and third Grand Slam crown of her career by defeating American Jessica Pegula, 7-5, 7-5, with the roof closed on Arthur Ashe Stadium due to rain Saturday evening.

By the end of the one-hour, 53-minute hard-fought and hard-hitting final between the two best hard-court players this summer, Sabalenka showed grace and humility, too. A year after suffering a crushing three-set defeat to another American, Coco Gauff, that left her in tears, this time the 26-year-old Belarusian wasn’t to be denied against the World No. 6 Pegula, a 30-year-old native New Yorker, whose parents own the NFL’s Buffalo Bills and the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres and who was playing in her first major final.

Trailing 3-0 in the second set, after Sabalenka pulled out an hour-long opener on her fifth set point, Pegula strung together five straight winning games to surge ahead, hoping to take matters to a decider.

However, the aggressive Sabalenka recovered in time and won the final four games of the title match with her big-swinging attack. Upon winning championship point on her second try, Sabalenka dropped her racquet and fell to the ground, covering her eyes with her hands. Upon getting up, she kissed her hand and tapped it on the hard-court surface. Soon, she was celebrating with her team. Winning the US Open, after reaching the semifinals in four consecutive years, was a massive accomplishment for the World No. 2 from Minsk, Belarus.

“I’m speechless right now,” Sabalenka said during the trophy ceremony, after she received the champion’s trophy from Hall of Fame great Billie Jean King, who won the fourth of her four US Open crowns 50 years ago in 1974. “I remember all those tough losses in the past here. It’s going to sound easy, but never give up on your dream. Keep trying, keep working hard. If you’re really working hard, you’re sacrificing everything for your dream, you’re going to get it one day. I’m super proud of myself. I never say that but I’m super proud of myself, of my team.”

Sabalenka hit six aces and 40 winners overall while making 34 unforced errors. She converted six of 15 break points and outpointed Pegula 88-79. Pegula countered with four aces, hit 17 winners but committed 22 unforced errors. She broke Sabalenka four times in seven attempts. It just wasn’t enough.

Outside of winning her three majors, 11 of the other 13 titles Sabalenka has won have been on hard courts. After winning the WTA 1000 Cincinnati Open, a US Open tune-up last month, Sabalenka has now won 12 straight matches. She beat Pegula in the Cincinnati final.

Meanwhile, Pegula, who eliminated World No. 1 and top seed Iga Swiatek of Poland in the quarterfinal round, has won 15 of her last 17 matches since Wimbledon, including a WTA 1000 title in Toronto. Her only setbacks during this streak of good fortune were her twin losses to Sabalenka.

“If you would have told me at the beginning of the year, I’d be in the final of the US Open, I would have laughed so hard,” Pegula after her come-from-behind three-set semifinal win over unseeded Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic.

“I wish she would have let me have one set,” Pegula, who will move up to World No. 3 on Monday, quipped during the trophy ceremony. She praised Sabalenka (27-1 the last two years in the hard-court majors) as “the best hard-court player in the world.”

With her US Open title triumph, Sabalenka became the first woman to capture both hard-court majors in the same season since Angelique Kerber won both the 2016 Australian Open and US Open titles and just the second woman in the last 27 years.

During a post-match interview with ESPN, Sabalenka was asked what changed that has enabled her to get through the second week of majors, after struggling earlier in her career. She replied: “I think mentally I became really strong. I’ve been through a lot on and off the court. I just figured out for myself how to control my emotions and stay balanced on court.

“Even when things aren’t going my way, I just keep reminding myself ‘Come on Aryna. You’ve been through a lot. It’s just a tennis match. You can handle these emotions. You just have to focus on the things you have to do to win. Slowly things will get better for you.’ I think that was the biggest change. I guess I figured out how to control my emotions.”

Sabalenka went on to explain how she’s the happiest person in the world after winning her first US Open title, which improved her win-loss in majors this year to 18-1.

“I’m speechless. I can’t put two words together,” Sabalenka beamed. “I’m super happy. I remember all the tough losses here at the US Open. They say you’re going to see the reason later. I see the reason right now. I had to go through tough lessons to hold this beautiful trophy. I think I’m the happiest person in the world right now.”

Aussies Purcell and Thompson win first major doubles title together

After Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson squandered three championship points during the Wimbledon Championships last July, they weren’t about to let that happen again in the US Open men’s doubles final. Instead, the No. 7 seeds from Australia defeated No. 10 seeds Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz of Germany, 6-4, 7-6 (4), in an hour and 34 minutes on Arthur Ashe Stadium to win their first major title together.

Although Purcell and Thompson had two chances to close out the title at 5-3 in the second set, they put away the match in the second-set tie-break.

They became the first Australian men to win the US Open doubles title since Todd Woodbridge won with Jonas Bjorkman in 2003, and the first all-Australian pair to win the US Open since Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde won back-to-back titles in New York in 1995 and 1996.

“Being a Grand Slam champion has a great ring to it,” Thompson said afterward. “Especially after the heartbreak at Wimbledon. It got a little bit tense with match points at the end. We stuck with it and we got there.”

The Aussies dropped just one set combined (in the second round) in their six matches en route to the US Open title. They defeated No. 1 seeds Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina in the quarterfinals.

Purcell and Thompson earlier this year won titles at Dallas, Los Cabos and Houston. They improved to 37-6 this season following their US Open triumph, which earned them $750,000 and 2,000 ATP Ranking points.

“I feel like we were the better team,” Thompson said. “I don’t really say that too often, but from the get-go, I thought we were creating chances and we just played a really good, clean match today.”

Purcell and Thompson combined to serve five aces, hit 26 winners, converted two of 10 break points and outpointed Krawietz and Puetz 76-67.

Purcell, who served for the match in the tie-break, added: “I’d like to say I’m not going to screw its up twice. I felt like something good was coming here.”

The US Open crown is the second for Purcell, 26, who previously won the 2022 Wimbledon doubles title with Matthew Ebden. Meanwhile, Thompson, 30, was competing in his second Grand Slam final following his Wimbledon loss this year.

Now, it’s off to Valencia, Spain, where Purcell and Thompson will play in next week’s Davis Cup round-robin stage representing Australia.

Saturday’s US Open results

Sunday’s US Open order of play

By the numbers

Since 2000, there have been four all-American men’s major semifinals or finals:

2000 Australian Open semifinals, Agassi def. Sampras.

2002 US Open final, Sampras def. Agassi.

2005 US Open semifinals, Agassi def. Ginepri.

2024 US open semifinals, Fritz def. Tiafoe.

“Quotable …”

“It’s really, really tough. Really, really tough to swallow. This one is going to hurt really, really bad,” Tiafoe said in his post-match press conference. “I thought I was the better player for sure. In the fourth, I don’t know, I just had some in-and-out cramps. I just felt my body kind of shut down on me.

“It probably had a lot to do with nerves. I wasn’t tired at all. Just, to get into the final, probably the closest I was obviously when I played [Carlos] Alcaraz, I was hanging for dear life to go five. Here I was really in a position to win. I was almost able to be in that position.

“I have been feeling unbelievable physically. But also, it could be a testament to how many matches I’ve played in the short time and I haven’t played that many matches all year like that. Ultimately, I think nerves got the better of me tonight.”

— Frances Tiafoe of the United States, during his post-match news conference following his five-set semifinal loss to Taylor Fritz Friday night.

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