'All those tough lessons were worth this one': Sabalenka defends US Open crown

Back in January, Aryna Sabalenka was looking for her third straight Australian Open title but lost a three-set final to Madison Keys.

Sabalenka won a first-set tiebreak against Coco Gauff in the Roland Garros final, but stumbled badly, losing a second consecutive major championship match in three sets.

“After French Open I figured that, ‘OK, maybe it’s time for me to sit back and to look at those finals and to maybe learn something,’” Sabalenka said Saturday night. “Because I didn’t want it to happen again and again and again.

“I thought that if I made it to the final, it means that I’m going to win it, and I sort of didn’t expect players to come out there and to fight. I thought that everything going to go easily my way, which was completely wrong mindset. Going into this final, I decided for myself that I’m going to control my emotions.”

And that’s precisely what she did. With a 6-3, 7-6 (3) win over Amanda Anisimova, Sabalenka became the first woman to defend her US Open since Serena Williams in 2014.

The 27-year-old has been the PIF WTA Rankings No. 1 player all season long, but she broke through with her first major title of the year in the final Grand Slam. 

“There was a few moments when I was this close [pinching together thumb and index finger] to just letting go,” she said afterward. “But I was like, `Come on, you cannot do that. You have to stay focused and keep going, keep trying.’

“All those tough lessons worth this one,” she said, succinctly summing up her year in seven words.

For context, consider this: Of the 11 majors she’s played across the past three years, Sabalenka has now won four, reached three finals, three semifinals and one quarterfinal.

She now has two titles each at the US Open and Australian Opens, reminiscent of Naomi Osaka’s run from 2018-21, except she accomplished it in three years instead of four.

Appropriately, this was Sabalenka’s 100^th Grand Slam match-win. She received a record prize of $5 million for the effort. Her winning percentage is an impressive .794, second only to Iga Swiatek among active players.

“I’m in awe of what you’ve accomplished,” Anisimova said, addressing Sabalenka in the trophy ceremony. “Congratulations to you and your team, you guys are amazing.”

Of her swift ascent to the top of tennis -- she’ll be No. 4 in the new PIF WTA Rankings -- Anisimova acknowledged, “It’s been a crazy, crazy journey.”

Anisimova came in with a 6-3 head-to-head record against Sabalenka, but their 10^th meeting was something different. In the past, Anisimova’s superb timing, clean ball-stroking and technique kept Sabalenka pinned behind the baseline. Anisimova typically plays an all-or-nothing, hit-or-miss game and in deep runs at Wimbledon and this US Open, it’s been working.

But playing opposite Sabalenka, Anisimova was constantly under pressure and the result was too many errors. Anisimova finished with 29 unforced errors and 22 winners. 

Sabalenka wisely took a little bit off her powerful game -- she hit only a single ace -- and produced a more conservative stat line: 13 winners and 15 unforced errors. Ultimately, the difference was Sabalenka’s execution on break-point opportunities, winning five of six.

It was hard not to think back to that Wimbledon final when Anisimova lost the first two games -- the last point was a nervous-looking forehand that gave Sabalenka a service break. Ominously, that meant Anisimova had lost all 14 games of the only two major finals of her career.

Sabalenka, having won nine of 11 points, was up 2-0, 30-love when Anisimova settled down. Let the record show that a fierce forehand down-the-line winner gave her a breakthrough game at the 15-minute mark.

After a routine hold (and a blistering body serve that nearly hit Sabalenka), Anisimova held -- and then broke Sabalenka’s hefty serve again.

Sabalenka came right back with a second break to even it at 3-all. She then won the next three games to seal the set.

Winning the first set is often pivotal, but doing it at the US Open is critical. Of the past 30 women’s champions at the US Open, 28 won the opening set.

With Sabalenka serving for the match at 5-4, 30-all -- two points from the title -- Anisimova hit a running lob and Sabalenka responded with an awkward overhead into the net. Anisimova broke and held, forcing Sabalenka to serve her way into a tiebreak.

Coming in, Sabalenka had won 20 of 21 tiebreaks this year. That one loss came back in February. The final result was predictable -- Sabalenka converted her third match point when Anisimova’s service return missed.

Sabalenka immediately collapsed to the court and when she stood up there were tears in her eyes.

“I think because of the finals earlier this season, this one felt different,” Sabalenka said. “This one felt like I had to overcome a lot of things to get this one. The hard work we put in, like, I deserved to have a Grand Slam title this season.

“So when I fell, it was like truly emotions, because it means a lot to defend this title and to bring such a great tennis on court. And to bring the fight and be able to handle my emotions the way I did in this final, it means a lot. I’m super proud right now of myself.”