Luke Hales/Getty Images
Jessica Pegula will try to become the second consecutive American woman to win the U.S. Open women’s singles title on Saturday.
Pegula recovered from a set down to beat Karolina Muchova and set up a final clash with Aryna Sabalenka.
Sabalenka has been a fixture in major tournament finals over the last few seasons. She owns a massive edge in experience over her American foe.
Pegula’s chase of the $3.6 million winner’s purse will come in her first-ever major tournament final.
Pegula did not make it past the quarterfinal stage in any of her previous major appearances.
US Open Women’s Final Info
Date: Saturday, September 7
Live Stream: ESPN.com or ESPN app
Major tournament final experience is the massive difference between Sabalenka and Pegula.
Sabalenka will be playing in her fourth major tournament championship in the last two years on Saturday. All of her major final appearances have come on the hard courts at the Australian and US Opens.
The No. 2 seed started strong in her only US Open final last fall, but then she dropped the next two sets to Coco Gauff.
Sabalenka owns a 5-2 head-to-head record against Pegula. The most-recent victory came in the final in Cincinnati in one of the tune-up events for the US Open.
Pegula had to battle just to reach the US Open final. She defeated top seed Iga Swiatek in straight sets in the quarterfinals and then had to go the distance to eliminate Muchova in the semifinals.
Sabalenka cruised through her quarterfinal match against Zheng Qinwen and only had one tough set against Emma Navarro in Thursday’s first semifinal.
Pegula will have the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd on her side, and she may need the extra boost from the fans to battle with Sabalenka.
The sixth-seeded American only has one victory over Sabalenka in their last six head-to-head meetings.
Pegula proved in her last two matches that she is capable of taking the next step at majors, but winning three grueling matches in a row may be too tough of a task to achieve.
Prediction: Sabalenka wins 2-0
