Key events
“It was a really tough match. I had to work hard to get this win. She’s such a g eat player, such a great fighter. Hopefully I can go all the way again. And thank you guys for bringing the best atmosphere.”
The crowd will be against her again in the final, though. They like Sabalenka. They love US players like Anisimova, and Osaka has certainly endeared herself to this crowd over the years.
Back with the second match next, and yes, we’re going to be going well past my bedtime.
Aryna Sabalenka defeats Jessica Pegula 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
The US veteran put up as much of a fight as anyone possibly could against the overpowering world No. 1 and defending champion. At times, Sabalenka looked like she was going to break a racket over her own head out of frustration with her own inability to put the 31-year-old away.
But for every error, there was a winner or a devastating serve.
Pegula stays alive! Sabalenka comes to the net and is perplexed when Pegula drops a shot onto her feet. That doesn’t seem physically possible.
Sabalenka’s next serve is nigh unreturnable. Match point.
Unbelievable! Sabalenka had an overhead smash to win this semi-final, and she hits straight into the net. Deuce.
The umpire is admonishing the crowd to be quiet. Sabalenka makes plenty of noise, though, hitting each corner to leave Pegula no chance. Match point again.
Sabalenka hits wide. Pegula is just so much more patient, and that has kept this match close. 30-30.
Ace. So close to the line that everyone waited for confirmation. Match point. Crowd roars.
Sabalenka serving for the match …
Sabalenka wins the first point, but the net cord is unkind on the second, popping her shot up into the air to give Pegula all day to get her feet set for the winner.
Pegula hits long. 30-15. Two points away.
Also, Pegula has covered 32 feet per point, while Sabalenka has only needed to cover 28.5.
STATS
Aces: Sabalenka 7-3
Double faults: 4 each
Winners: Sabalenka 40-20
Unforced errors: Sabalenka 26-14
Third set: *Sabalenka 4-6 6-3 5-4 Pegula (* – denotes next server). Pegula certainly isn’t overpowering on her serve, but for the last several service games, she has had pinpoint control of every shot. She again holds at love. Can she finally get the break that has barely eluded her on her last two tries?
This is compelling stuff.
Third set: Sabalenka 4-6 6-3 5-3 Pegula* (* – denotes next server). The big difference in this match is that, while Pegula can hit a winner with some deception and creativity to set things up, Sabalenka can hit a winner from anywhere on the court. Maybe even the stands. Maybe even the parking lot.
But again, is she overcooking it? She alternates winners and errors, then double faults to bring up break point. She flings her racket to the ground but avoids cross comments from the chair umpire. She regains composure to win the next two points quickly. Then Pegula conjures a drop shot out of nowhere, and Sabalenka scrambles but can only hit in the net.
Once again, Pegula is making Sabalenka earn this every step of the way. And while Sabalenka has had her share of errors, for the most part, this is superb tennis, with both players raising their games after a downturn about a half hour ago.
But once again, Sabalenka just dominates a couple of points by brute force. Pegula now faces the pressure of serving to stay in the match.
Third set: *Sabalenka 4-6 6-3 4-3 Pegula (* – denotes next server). Pegula would surely love to have that first game of this set back, because she has been superb since then, forcing Sabalenka to the limit when she’s returning and then dominating her own service games. She holds at love about as routinely as anyone can hold at love against the world’s No. 1 player.
Third set: Sabalenka 4-6 6-3 4-2 Pegula* (* – denotes next server). Is Sabalenka getting overeager here? She has a lot of open court to hit, but she overcooks it and flings it wide to make it 15-30. Then Pegula hits a solid drop shot, Sabalenka swings hard but sends it right to Pegula, and a quick-reaction volley leaves Sabalenka no chance. Double break point.
A thrilling point follows. Sabalenka comes to the net, hits a drop shot, and scrambles back to smash a Pegula lob.
That gets Sabalenka back on track, and she hits a pinpoint backhand winner. Deuce.
Or does it? Shot goes long, and it’s break point again. The crowd erupts – it’s definitely not anti-Sabalenka, but Pegula is a US player still in search of that long-awaited breakthrough, and this is New York.
But the defending champion just has so much power. Two booming points, and she’s serving to erase Pegula’s best chance to stay in the match.
And yet … the rush of blood to the head strikes again (apologies to Coldplay fans). Double fault, and Sabalenka is literally hopping mad at herself. No matter – she forces Pegula to scramble to send a high return that barely lands on Sabalenka’s side of the net, and she’s able to hit one of the easier smashes of her career. One more powerful serve, and she has seen off Pegula’s best challenge of the set.
Third set: *Sabalenka 4-6 6-3 3-2 Pegula (* – denotes next server). This crowd is trying to will Pegula back into this match. They roar when Pegula wins the first point in this game. She wins another, then places a serve so perfectly that Sabalenka should get a round of applause just for getting a racket to it, even if her shot went wide. Sabalenka’s next return goes into the net, and Pegula holds at love. Can she build on that?
Third set: Sabalenka 4-6 6-3 3-1 Pegula* (* – denotes next server). Pegula gets some help from the net cord to make it 15-all. Didn’t see whether she apologized.
For some reason, I’m just now noticing that Sabalenka is wearing enough jewelry around her neck to be confused with a member of a royal family.
Error by Sabalenka, but she responds with an ace punctuated by a sharp scream – it’s not a Monica Seles screech, but more of a percussive “AAAHHH!!!” Another ace, and Pegula now looks like this is getting out of reach.
Third set: *Sabalenka 4-6 6-3 2-1 Pegula (* – denotes next server). My goodness, these games are flying. A sharp winner, two forced errors, and a Sabalenka unforced error add up to Pegula holding at love.
Third set: Sabalenka 4-6 6-3 2-0 Pegula* (* – denotes next server). Four very quick points, and Sabalenka holds at love to take a vise-like grip on this match.
Third set: *Sabalenka 4-6 6-3 1-0 Pegula (* – denotes next server). Well, the advantage of holding to win a third game in the last set was to force Sabalenka to defend against Pegula’s serve in the first game here. That only works if Pegula holds serve. But Sabalenka looks dominant here, and she breaks.
Aryna Sabalenka wins the second set 6-3
You know you’ve done well when all you have to do to hit a winner is hold up your racket and have it bounce back into an open court. Pegula is finding her creativity again, and she takes the first point. But Sabalenka strikes back with a backhand winner. On the next point, Pegula hits the difficult shots, including a long stretch to hit a high lob that lands just short of the baseline, then hits an easy one into the net. Her next return is long, and it’s two set points for Sabalenka.
Sabalenka aggressively goes for the KO, but Pegula holds her ground, and the US player rips Sabalenka’s telegraphed drop shot back into the No. 1 seed’s midsection.
But Sabalenka has been the stronger player throughout this set, and she proves it one last time on the second set point.
We’ll play three.
Second set: *Sabalenka 4-6 5-3 Pegula (* – denotes next server). Pegula opens with an ace, but after Sabalenka equalizes, she double faults and is two points away from losing the set. She’s not likely to win this one, but there would surely be an advantage to making Sabalenka serve it out and then taking the first service game in the third.
It’s not the sharpest game for either player, and Pegula shanks a shot wide of an open court. That would’ve held it for her. She once again double faults to bring up set point, and her next serve is yet another fault, but an unforced error from Sabalenka brings it back to deuce. Another unforced error elicits a low scream from a frustrated Sabalenka. Still smarting from that miss, she drops another one into the net, and now she has to serve this out to take the set.
Second set: Sabalenka 4-6 5-2 Pegula* (* – denotes next server). This set will not be a repeat of the first. Sabalenka races through the first three points, double faults, then roars back with a scorching ace.
Second set: *Sabalenka 4-6 4-2 Pegula (* – denotes next server). Pegula has the countenance of someone who knows this is going to a third set. Sabalenka quickly makes it 0-30. But a sound winner and a strong serve draw Pegula level. Pegula then saves a break point with a well-placed winner, follows with another and then sees Sabalenka knock the next return into the net.
Remember when Sabalenka led the first set by this score?
Second set: Sabalenka 4-6 4-1 Pegula* (* – denotes next server). Ace, ace, return into the net, and it’s already 40-0. Sabalenka again starts an exchange of drop shots and appears to have it won, but her volley goes just wide to her consternation. No problem – another drop shot, a quick dash to the net, and Sabalenka has an easy winner to hold.
Second set: *Sabalenka 4-6 3-1 Pegula (* – denotes next server). Can Pegula bounce back as she did in the first set? She wins the first point on an awkward but effective two-handed backhand volley, then follows with a more conventional winner. After Sabalenka pounces on her second serve, Pegula tries a drop shot, but Sabalenka drops it right back. A wayward Pegula backhand makes it 30-all, but Sabalenka’s next return sails long. Pegula again has to offer up a second serve to the ravenous Sabalenka, but the overeager Sabalenka sends it well long. Much-needed hold for Pegula.
Second set: Sabalenka 4-6 3-0 Pegula* (* – denotes next server). Sabalenka wins the first point with a nifty changeup, not quite a drop shot per se but definitely not coming all the way back to where Pegula has been forced to camp out well behind her own baseline. An error makes it 15-all, but Sabalenka sends a forehand laser into the corner for 30-15, and she rips a backhand behind Pegula’s back to make it 40-15.
Pegula is only able to send her shots straight back to her waiting nemesis through the next rally, and when she tries to send the ball somewhere else, her shot finds the net. Sabalenka is firmly in control of the set.
Second set: *Sabalenka 4-6 2-0 Pegula (* – denotes next server). Sabalenka puts Pegula on her heels with some drives that land just short of the baseline with some venom. That gets her to 30-30, and she earns a break point with another overpowering rally. A few stinging shots later, and Sabalenka has broken.
Second set: Sabalenka 4-6 1-0 Pegula* (* – denotes next server). Now it’s Sabalenka’s turn to play a clever shot from an acute angle, and Pegula can’t get there. But Pegula perfectly reads Sabalenka’s attempt at a drop shot, returning firmly and forcing Sabalenka to send a wild shot well wide. Sabalenko storms back to make it 40-15, gives one back on a desultory shot into the net, then moves Pegula around the court to hold.
Jessica Pegula wins first set 6-4
It’s as if Pegula knows which way Sabalenka is going to lean, and she simply hits it the other way. Pegula catches the defending champion flat-footed again and again, and she holds at love as Sabalenka sends a shot wide.
Stunning momentum shift, and Pegula hasn’t let that go.
First set: Sabalenka 4-5 Pegula* (* – denotes next server). This is turning into a compelling matchup of power vs. guile. Sabalenka smashes and approaches the net, only to be handcuffed by a perfectly placed return. Sabalenka follows with a torrid serve that Pegula can only deflect straight into the ground, and it’s 30-30.
Then it’s more Pegula wizardry, as Sabalenka once again is left stranded at the net as Pegula places a winner past her. In the next rally, Sabalenka hits long, and Pegula will serve for the set.
First set: *Sabalenka 4-4 Pegula (* – denotes next server). Well now. Pegula has truly taken control now. Even on a point that Sabalenka appears to be winning, Pegula scrambles from side to side and hits a winner past a startled Sabalenka. Pegula holds at love.
First set: Sabalenka 4-3 Pegula* (* – denotes next server). Sabalenka looks stunned as her backhand crashes into the net. It’s 15-40. Can Pegula break right back? Sabalenka entices her into a long return to save one break point, but then a double fault – the second going long by a couple of feet – ends Sabalenka’s streak of service games won. We’re back on serve.
First set: *Sabalenka 4-2 Pegula (* – denotes next server). Ludacris is here. Will his presence help Pegula stick around in this match? This game starts badly for her, as she falls behind 0-30 on a sublime drop shot that Pegula can barely tap back over the net, leaving Sabalenka the entire court to deposit her winner. A trade of errors, and Sabalenka has two break points. She hits long on the first – the stats feed says it’s a forced error, but that’s generous – and hits the net after a short rally. Deuce. Then advantage Pegula.
But then Sabalenka takes control. She takes two points, then runs Pegula into a corner and follows up with a simple forehand winner. First break to Sabalenka.
First set: *Sabalenka 3-2 Pegula (* – denotes next server). Simply dominant service game from Sabalenka. No aces, but she moves Pegula out of position with ease and closes out by smashing Pegula’s return down the line. Pegula can only watch the ball fly past her, and Sabalenka holds at love.
First set: *Sabalenka 2-2 Pegula (* – denotes next server). A second double fault already for Pegula, but she forces Sabalenka to stretch for an impossible shot on the next point, then notches her first ace. Her next serve is almost as good, but Sabalenka returns to start a marvelous point – Pegula tries an audacious drop shot, Sabalenka scrambles to cover, Pegula laces a hard shot, Sabalenka hits back, and Pegula’s lob attempt is just a hair long.
After all that, though, Pegula whips through two points, and we’re still on serve.
First set: Sabalenka 2-1 Pegula* (* – denotes next server). ESPN informs us that Sabalenka has won her last 30 service games. But Pegula is making her work for No. 31, sending Sabalenka to the corner of the court, where she can’t quite get the ball back over the net. Sabalenka looks a little frustrated after an error makes it 30-30, but she then rips an ace an inch or so away from the center line. She then caps a long rally with a cross-court winner that also paints the line.
Pegula has had some strong shots, but it just feels like Sabalenka is dictating the action here.
First set: *Sabalenka 1-1 Pegula (* – denotes next server). Sabalenka makes an unlikely error, but Pegula double-faults to get it to 15-15. Sabalenka errs again, but then she gets a bit of good fortune with a shot that hits the net cord, bounces up, and clips the net cord again before falling to the court. But Pegula rattles off two confident serves, finishing off the first of those at the net, and holds.
First set: Sabalenka 1-0 Pegula* (* – denotes next server). The defending champion opens with a punishing sequence of shots to take the first point. An unforced error follows, but then Pegula mishits her return of a Sabalenka second serve. Her next two returns are also out of play.
Oh, and Salisbury-Skupski did indeed win the men’s doubles semi-final.
Sabalenka to serve …
Warmups are finished. Here we go …
First up will be Sabalenka vs. Pegula, and the career records favor Sabalenka. She has beaten Pegula in seven of nine matchups, including the last three.
Pegula speaks as she heads through the tunnel. “Not many other places I’d rather be tonight.”
She has played all of her matches in the gargantuan Arthur Ashe Stadium in this tournament, and she’ll have home-country support.
Sabalenka is wearing a shiny silver top reminiscent of what the couple next door wore in the Christmas Vacation film. She hails Pegula as a fighter.
Meanwhile, in the men’s doubles semi-finals in Louis Armstrong Stadium, Neal Skupski and Joe Salisbury are on the verge of closing out Michael Venus and Yuki Bhambri. The British pair is serving for the match after splitting the first two sets. They’re up 5-4 in the third.
Preamble
Good evening, fellow Earthlings.
When I was in grad school, one of my classes started a semester by talking about their backgrounds. Mine was, by comparison, extremely boring.
So I feel a bit of sympathy for Aryna Sabalenka. While she has had some tragedy in her life and still walks the tightrope of being an athlete from Belarus who has expressed some support for Ukraine, from a tennis point of view, she just wins. And wins some more. And more.
She’s not just ranked No. 1 right now. She’s a couple of miles ahead of the pack.
Two of tonight’s semi-finalists, Jessica Pegula and Amanda Anisimova, are separated by barely more than 1,000 points. Pegula (No. 4) has 4,903. Anisimova (No. 9) has 3,869.
Ahead of them, Iga Swiatek (7,933) and Coco Gauff (7,874) form their own tier, though Pegula and Anisimova will surely gain on them when all is done in New York.
Sabalenka? 11,225.
And she’s been floating in the top five and making strong runs in majors. She’s won three, including this tournament last year.
Meanwhile, the other semi-finalists all have compelling backstories …
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Pegula, who faces Sabalenka in a rematch of last year’s final, has been knocking on the door longer than a medieval army conducting a siege. After a couple of years in the top 10, she finally reached her first major final last year at age 30. Will it ever be her turn?
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Anisimova was a teen prodigy who burned out before she could truly reach her potential. She took some time off and has slowly climbed back since her return. This summer, she reached her first major final at Wimbledon, only to suffer a 6-0, 6-0 loss to Swiatek. In her last match, she smashed her way past the Wimbledon champion to reach this semi-final against …
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Naomi Osaka, who won four majors and was atop the tennis world before also hitting the wall and taking time off. She took more time off to have her first child. Since returning, she hasn’t made a significant run in a major – until now.
So if you like underdog stories and redemption, you have three choices. If you want to see the No. 1 player in the world confirm her greatness again, obviously, there can only be one.
Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s a look at the big semi-final coming up on Friday:
Carlos Alcaraz took his final leave from Rod Laver Arena this year consumed by frustration. Losing at the Australian Open, the first grand slam tournament of the year, was painful enough, but Alcaraz’s disappointment was particularly down to how he had lost.
Novak Djokovic had visibly begun to struggle with a leg injury early in their four-set quarter-final, but instead of focusing on his own game, Alcaraz found himself staring across the net and thinking too much about his opponent’s condition rather than about what he needed to win. While the Spaniard’s focus wavered, Djokovic’s difficulties inspired his most offensive, decisive tennis, and he willed himself to a miraculous victory.
That meeting was the last encounter in what has become one of the most unusual rivalries the sport has seen. At 38 and 22 respectively, Djokovic and Alcaraz were born 16 years apart. Their first meeting at the Madrid Open in May 2022, won by Alcaraz, occurred two days after his 19th birthday and two weeks before Djokovic turned 35. Considering that significant age gap, just one match between them would have been a fortunate outcome.
Instead, when they enter Arthur Ashe Stadium for their semi-final match on Friday, they will have met on every single major stage in professional tennis: Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, US Open, the Olympic Games and ATP Finals. Djokovic leads their head-to-head 5-3 and those meetings have included some of the most memorable matches in the sport, from Alcaraz’s recovery to win his first Wimbledon title in 2023 to Djokovic’s career‑completing Olympic gold medal triumph last year.
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