The US Open women's final is sure to be full of drama. After back-to-back appearances at the Australian Open, world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka will look to claim her first title in New York when she takes on American and No. 6 seed Jessica Pegula at Arhtur Ashe Stadium on Saturday afternoon. It is the second year in a row that Sabalenka has reached the US Open final against an American. In 2023 she failed due to Coco Gauff.
Pegula has struggled with several injuries throughout her career and even withdrew from this year's French Open. This week she admitted that it never occurred to her to make it this far.
“It's amazing. It’s a childhood dream,” Pegula said. “If you had told me at the beginning of the year that I would be in the final of the US Open, I would have laughed so hard because my head was just there – not believing I would be here.”
Pegula started this tournament with a record of 0-6 in the quarterfinals, but this time she made a breakthrough with a straight-sets win over world No. 1 Iga Swiatek. Pegula then came “flat” in the semifinals against Karolina Muchova, but finally found her rhythm managed an impressive 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 comeback win.
She has plenty of momentum heading into Saturday, having won 15 of her last 16 matches, but coincidentally, that only loss came to Sabalenka in the Cincinnati Open title game in August. Sabalenka won that game 6-3, 7-5, giving her a 5-2 lead in her all-time series.
Where to watch Sabalenka vs Pegula?
- Date: Saturday September 7th | Time: 4 p.m. ET
- Location: Arthur Ashe Stadium – Queens, New York
- TV: ESPN
- Electricity: fuboTV (Try for free. Regional restrictions may apply.)
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Pegula's most recent win against Sabalenka came in the first round of the 2023 WTA Finals. Although the American knows Sabalenka is a strong opponent, she will look to use her recent loss to her in Cincinnati as motivation.
“Playing Aryna is going to be really hard,” Pegula said Thursday night. “She showed how tough she is and why she is probably the favorite to win this tournament. It’s going to be a rematch against Cincinnati, so hopefully I can get some revenge here.”
Pegula is a New York native, so she'll likely have the audience on her side – although Belarus-born Sabalenka joked about it Bribe the crowd with free drinks.
But no matter who the fans are cheering for, Sabalenka feels very comfortable here. She made it to the semifinals in 2021 and 2022 and finished second in 2023 after struggling to beat Coco Gauff.
This loss to Gauff actually makes Sabalenka more dangerous because she said it motivates her to get the job done this time.
“Hard defeats never make me – how can I say this? – depressed when I don’t think about not returning to the tournament. This just motivates me to come back and try again, try harder and maybe work.” “I'm going to go harder on some things that maybe didn't work in the past,” Sabalenka said. “I still hope to hold this beautiful trophy in my hands.”
She is very comfortable on hard courts and has won two consecutive trophies at the Australian Open. After her 6-3, 7-6, (7-2) win over No. 13 Emma Navarro on Thursday, Sabalenka has now won 26 of her last 27 hard court matches.
Another thing that makes Sabalenka dangerous is that she has this Fastest forehand speed at the US Open of all women and men with an average speed of 129 km/h, or about 80 miles per hour.
Pegula is well aware of her opponent's strengths, but she approaches Saturday with confidence in her own ability to give Sabalenka a tough game.
“Apparently she really is one [tough] “I’m a hard court player, if not one of the best in the world,” Pegula said. “But I think I'm a really good hard court player too.” She served incredibly in Cincinnati and I felt like I still had a chance in that match. Hopefully they won't serve as well on Saturday, maybe a little less would be nice.
“I think I know I can have a game that might frustrate them. I feel like in the past I've just had to be aggressive, I've had to get them moving, serve smart and try to put some pressure on their serve.”
