Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (world number 2) upheld the hierarchy by beating American Emma Navarro (12th) on Thursday in New York to reach her second consecutive US Open tennis final.
Sabalenka (26 years old) will be the favourite, either against the American Jessica Pegula (6th), or against the Czech Karolina Muchova (52nd), who face each other later in the evening.
“No matter who I play in the final, today (Thursday) was a good test. I hope I will do a little better than last year,” Sabalenka said.
Beaten last year in the US Open final by Coco Gauff, Sabalenka, a two-time winner of the Australian Open (2023 and 2024), will have the opportunity on Saturday to become the first player to win both Majors played on hard courts in the same season since Germany’s Angelique Kerber in 2016.
After the elimination in the quarter-finals of world number one Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka was the only player in the semi-finals who had already won a Grand Slam, and showed this against Emma Navarro, a novice at this level of competition, for a 6-3, 7-6 (7/2) victory.
On Thursday, she surpassed Emma Navarro, who was broken in her first serve in the first set. Navarro took the Belarusian’s serve in stride before suffering her powerful and deep shots.
– Muchova ou Pegula –
Leading 5-3 in the second set, Sabalenka saw Navarro suddenly raise her level, more aggressive on the return and finding awkward angles for the Belarusian, who was broken while serving at 5-4 to win the match.
Forced into a tie-break, Sabalenka committed a double fault (2-0 Navarro) before showing a superb level, with ever stronger shots coupled with well-felt drop shots.
Sabalenka, who arrived at Flushing Meadows on the back of a title in the WTA 1000 in Cincinnati, confirmed her ease in New York with a new final, having played in the semi-finals of the last four editions.
Emma Navarro, one of the revelations of the season, has no reason to be ashamed of her performance on the Arthur-Ashe court where she was pushed to the limit by the public.
Although she had never made it past two rounds in a Grand Slam, Navarro (23) reached the third round in Australia this year, the round of 16 at Roland Garros and the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, before her semi-final in New York.
She will thus enter the Top 10 of the world rankings for the first time on Monday (8th).
Sabalenka, who will not threaten Swiatek’s world number one spot even if she wins, could have the crowd against her again in the final if Jessica Pegula dominates Muchova in the other semi-final.
Pegula has never reached the final of a Major.
Muchova had been beaten in the final of Roland-Garros in 2023 and had already reached the semi-finals in New York a few months later. She was then stopped for ten months by an injury and a wrist operation, not returning to the circuit until the end of June.
rg/tmt
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