(September 4, 2025) FLUSHING, NY – Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka fought off Jessica Pegula to reach the US Open final for a third straight year.
The Belarusian won her semifinal 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in two hours and five minutes over the American on Thursday night in a rematch of last year’s final.
The top seed Sabalenka moved one win away from becoming the first woman to claim consecutive titles at the US Open since Serena Williams won three in a row from 2012 to 2014.
“I think I really played great tennis,” Sabalenka said. “I think I handled that pressure really well. I’m super proud of this win.
“Yeah, happy to be in another final.”
“I had to work really hard to get this win,” she said in her on-court interview. “Hopefully I can go all the way again.”
“I was super emotional,” she said to media. “I was just, like, Oh, my gosh, no way it’s happening. Please, just close this match.
“Of course I was emotional, and then there was another kind of, like, easy shot that I — not that I missed, but I didn’t make the right decision. The whole match I just keep telling myself, into the next one, just one step at a time, don’t worry about the past. Just try better in the next point.”
“I thought it was really high-level,” said a disappointed Pegula. “I don’t really know what else to say. I don’t know how I didn’t break back in the third.
“I mean, I thought I played some really good points to win the first. She upped her level, started serving a lot better in the second. Then I felt like it was really even in the third. Like, there wasn’t that much difference. I felt like we were both serving pretty well.
“She came up with some ridiculous shots, like, on breakpoint. Like, I didn’t feel like I did much wrong. So, yeah, it seemed like the level was really high, and we were pushing each other every single game.”
“I thought I served really well at the end of the first set too to take that set,” Pegula added.
“It maybe dipped a little bit in the second. I mean, like, she served a lot better in the second, as well. Yeah, I mean, I served much better I think than last time I played her. When you play her, you have to serve well, because she returns well and puts a lot of pressure on you. Not just with her returns, but the fact that she’s a good server. So you know it’s going to be difficult to break back.
“But, again, I almost felt like I served better in the third. Even though I got broken the first game and I didn’t break her, I felt like I was almost serving better. So that’s just, you know, unfortunate.”
Sabalenka hit more than twice as many winners as Pegula 43-21 but hit more errors than her opponent because of her aggressive game style. The 27-year-old, Sabalenka won 72 percent of her first serve points.
Sabalenka has not won a major tournament this year. She lost in the finals of the Australian Open, the French Open, and the semifinals of Wimbledon.
On Saturday, Sabalenka will meet the winner of the match between No. 8 Amanda Anisimova and No. 23 Naomi Osaka.
