No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka clinched a spot in her second straight US Open final with a gritty 6-3, 7-6(2) victory over No.13 seed Emma Navarro in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Thursday night.
US Open: Scores | Draw | Order of play
Former World No.1 Sabalenka, who finished runner-up to Coco Gauff at last year’s US Open, needed 90 minutes to fend off surging American Navarro, who was contesting her first Grand Slam semifinal and pushed the second set into a tiebreak from 5-3 down.
Hard-court expertise: With the win, 26-year-old Sabalenka becomes the first woman to reach back-to-back US Open finals since Serena Williams did so in 2018 and 2019. Sabalenka has reached all four hard-court Grand Slam finals during the last two seasons.
Sabalenka moves one win away from becoming the first woman to win both hard-court Grand Slam titles in the same year since Angelique Kerber won the Australian Open and US Open in 2016. Sabalenka won her second straight Australian Open title earlier this year.
Moving ahead in the rivalry: On Thursday night, Sabalenka avenged a loss to Navarro in their previous hard-court meeting, which was at Indian Wells this year. Sabalenka also defeated Navarro on the clay of Roland Garros this season and leads the overall head-to-head 2-1.
Sabalenka has now won 28 straight hard-court Grand Slam matches against players ranked outside the Top 10. That is the longest such winning streak since Victoria Azarenka won 29 consecutive hard-court Grand Slam matches against players ranked outside the Top 10 between the 2012 and 2014 Australian Opens.
Rising American: Having said that, Navarro will not be a player ranked outside the Top 10 next Monday. Following her career-best showing at a Slam, 23-year-old Navarro will make her Top 10 debut, with a projected rise from No.12 to No.8.
More to come…
