NEW YORK — Aryna Sabalenka was two factors away from what ultimately can be a second consecutive U.S. Open title when she had what ought to have been a routine — straightforward, even — overhead smash. As an alternative, whereas backpedaling, she dumped the ball into the online, giving her opponent, Amanda Anisimova, a break probability.
After that excruciating miss Saturday, Sabalenka dropped her racket on the blue court docket and smiled a rueful smile. She started to really feel the kind of feelings that received the higher of her throughout losses within the finals on the Australian Open in January and French Open bubble up. She tried to compose herself.
“I simply let the doubt get into my head,” Sabalenka defined. “However then I rotated and I took a deep breath in, and I used to be like, ‘OK. It occurs. It’s previously. Let’s give attention to the subsequent one.’”
So all the things was wonderful from there? Properly, no. “She broke me,” Sabalenka stated with a loud snigger. “I used to be like, ‘OK. … Reset.”
It took one other quarter-hour to finish the job, however the No. 1-seeded Sabalenka did reset, not like at these earlier title matches in 2025, and was in a position to kneel on Arthur Ashe Stadium’s court docket whereas overlaying her face along with her palms after beating Anisimova 6-3, 7-6 (3). That made Sabalenka the primary lady to earn the trophy at Flushing Meadows in consecutive years since Serena Williams in 2012-14.
“I really actually admire her,” stated No. 8 seed Anisimova, a 24-year-old American who heard raucous assist from the 24,000 or so spectators. “She places in plenty of work, and that’s why she’s the place she is.”
Sabalenka, a 27-year-old from Belarus, earned her fourth Grand Slam trophy — all on laborious courts — and averted changing into the primary lady to lose three main finals in a season since Justine Henin in 2006.
Sabalenka was the runner-up to Madison Keys at the Australian Open in January and to Coco Gauff at the French Open in June.
These defeats helped on Saturday.
“After the Australian Open, I believed that the proper means can be simply to neglect it and transfer on. However then the identical factor occurred on the French Open,” stated Sabalenka, who confirmed up at her postmatch information convention with a bottle of Champagne and a pair of darkish goggles atop her head. “So after French Open, I figured that, OK, possibly it’s time for me to take a seat again and to take a look at these finals and to possibly study one thing, as a result of I didn’t need it to occur repeatedly and once more.”
As Anisimova stored making issues shut once more, and the gang stored getting loud, Sabalenka reminded herself to give attention to herself.
It labored.
When Anisimova trailed Sabalenka 2-0, 30-love as Saturday’s match started, some followers may need questioned: There’s no means there’s going to be a repeat of the Wimbledon, proper? That is as a result of Anisimova’s first main remaining, in July on the All England Membership, ended with a 6-0, 6-0 shutout towards Iga Swiatek.
However Anisimova grabbed the subsequent 4 factors to interrupt again, capping the sport with a backhand winner and a forehand winner. That received people on their toes, shouting, and Anisimova exhaled as she walked to the sideline. Quickly, she led 3-2.
That was one other second that might have thrown Sabalenka. Nope. She took the subsequent 4 video games and that set.
It started pouring earlier than the match, so Ashe’s roof was shut and its synthetic lights have been on. That was a problem from Anisimova, who stated she had a tough time seeing the ball throughout serve tosses.
The setup additionally created windless circumstances, excellent for 2 ball-strikers who actually can convey the facility with good contact. And that’s what they each did.
Some exchanges have been breathtaking — to them, actually, and to these within the stands who gasped on the energy throughout longer factors. The rewards might be big, as can the dangers, and Anisimova was searching for the traces with full cuts off either side.
“I believe I didn’t struggle laborious sufficient for my goals at the moment,” stated Anisimova, who buried her face in a towel after the match.
Of Sabalenka’s first 13 factors, only one got here through her personal winner. The others? Six unforced errors and 6 compelled errors by Anisimova.
By the tip, Anisimova had almost twice as many winners as Sabalenka, 22-13, and almost twice as many unforced errors, too, 29-15.
“There was two moments the place I used to be actually near lose management,” Sabalenka stated later, “however … I instructed myself, ‘No, it’s not going to occur. It’s completely OK.’”
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Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis author since 2002. Discover his tales right here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. Extra AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
