Aryna Sabalenka defeated Jessica Pegula in the U.S. Open’s women’s singles final on Saturday
American tennis player Jessica Pegula lost the women’s singles final at the U.S. Open on Saturday to Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka. Sabalenka won in two sets, both times by a scores of 7-5.
Pegula, as she had all tournament, fought back after falling behind. Sabalenka won the first set then took a 3-0 lead in the second, but Pegula took the next five subsets. But then Sabalenka won the next four to close out the match.
Sabalenka had won 11 straight matches and 22 of her last 23 sets going into the match. The 26-year-old from Belarus claimed her third Grand Slam title after winning the last two Australian Opens.
Pegula had won 15 of her past 16 matches, all on hard courts like those used at Flushing Meadows. The lone loss in that span came against Sabalenka in the final of the Cincinnati Open last month. After a surprising run to the final, Pegula lost to Sabalenka again on the material.
Pegula is a 30-year-old from New York who is the No. 6 seed and 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.
