Aryna Sabalenka, channels her easy power to win US Open beating Jessica Pegula 7-5, 7-5

In Sunday’s US Open final, Aryna Sabalenka won 22 of the 28 points she faced on Jessica Pegula’s second serve.

This seemingly obscure statistic took on greater meaning because it proved to be the only point of difference in what was a thrillingly even contest despite its straight sets scoreline.

Second seed Sabalenka defeated Pegula, the World No. 6 from the United States, 7-5, 7-5 to lift her third Grand Slam title in a high-quality match full of momentum shifts in front of a boisterous New York crowd that did not let their home favourite fall till the final ball.

A year that opened with her in imperious form by winning the Australian Open, was marked by personal tragedy after the loss by suicide of her former boyfriend, and in which her form has been tetchy, Sabalenka ends the Grand Slam season by becoming the most successful tennis player from Belarus, overtaking Victoria Azarenka in Majors. She is also only the fifth women’s singles player to win both hard court Majors in the same year.

Sabalenka came into the match as the on-paper favourite but the grit of Pegula made her a more resilient presence than the scoreline suggests. Sabalenka’s commitment to overpowering her opponent and the smarts she used to be more aggressive while returning second serves took her to another gear, though, and got her over the line.

“After I lost my father, it’s always been my goal to put our family name in the history of tennis,” an emotional Sabalenka was later quoted as saying by The Guardian. “Every time I see my name on that trophy, I’m so proud of myself, I’m proud of my family that they never gave up on my dream and that they were doing everything they could to keep me going. I had this opportunity in life, so it really means a lot. It’s been always my dream. I still kind of cannot believe that me with my team, we were able to achieve so much already.”

For years, despite having promising tennis talent as a teenager thanks to her impeccable timing and easy power, volatility had defined Sabalenka’s career. Signs of being tentative showed up on the big stage, at the Majors especially, and her rising error counts and inexplicable double fault totals prompted her to lose matches.

Not a single skip on the tracklist. pic.twitter.com/RAXSA7YICp

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 8, 2024

But in the past two years, after incremental improvements and mental training, maturity has prevailed. The serenity that the Belarusian has developed under pressure has aided her power to make for a destructive combination, even when under the pump, as she had been throughout Sunday’s final.

It was Pegula who took the early lead in the first set, but the World No 2 roared back to win three games in a row by mixing her power game with variety to disrupt the rhythm, slicing and dropshotting her way out of trouble by finishing points off at the net.

Sabalenka enjoys what the tennis cognoscenti call ‘easy power’ — the overbearing shotmaking ability that, in repetition, allows her to break through any opponent’s defences. Though there is nothing easy about the way she strikes the ball when it’s in her zone. To put things into context, the Belarusian’s average forehand topspin speed at the US Open was 129 kmph, greater than that of even Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner or Novak Djokovic.

That kind of power can be the catalyst for her in the big moments of tight matches, and it prevailed at the end of both sets on Sunday.

ARYNA SABALENKA REIGNS SUPREME IN NEW YORK! pic.twitter.com/rVEGvuBMe4

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 7, 2024

Serving for the opener at 5-3, Pegula put together a phenomenal return game to pile the pressure back on Sabalenka. At 5-5, the composure was lost, she was down double break point and was smashing her racquet. Just then, a big ace and huge backhand down the line followed. The crucial hold was found and a tight final game from Pegula, and five set points later, she escaped with the lead.

The momentum had shifted, the second set seemed to be a foregone conclusion as Sabalenka was 3-0, 40-30 up on Pegula’s serve just as the star-filled crowd — from Noah Lyles to Lewis Hamilton — willed her on for a remarkable comeback. Relying on timing and defence, Pegula broke through Sabalenka to win five games in a row and put herself in a position to serve for the set, when, for Sabalenka, volatility was replaced by serenity once again.

Last year, Sabalenka had been in the ascendancy in the US Open final against another home favourite, Coco Gauff. She had been striking the ball clean and breaking Gauff’s defences with winners before unnecessary errors allowed Gauff a route back into the match, which she rode all the way to a comeback victory.

Sabalenka was not keen to let history repeat itself. Despite Pegula’s relentlessness, the enormity of the weight of her shots meant this match too was on her racquet, and down 3-5 in the second, she locked in and played her best tennis, overwhelming her opponent, ending the match with 40 winners, and taking a first title at Flushing Meadows.

“I was just so proud of myself and proud of my team that no matter what, we were able to come back stronger and come back with better tennis. And now finally we are having this beautiful trophy,” she would later say.

Sabalenka’s game — she lost only one match at a hard court Major in two years — and affable personality make for a particularly effective combination at the US Open. This is, after all, known as the ‘Glam Slam’. After having the misfortune of playing Americans in back-to-back finals, she has undoubtedly warmed herself up to the New York crowds that are just as likely to be kinder to her as she is likely to return to this stage.

After all the developments to her game, unless injury or personal strife get in the way, it’s three Majors and counting for women’s tennis’s latest hard court ruler.

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