Aryna Sabalenka Dominates US Open Semi-Final Against Jessica Pegula
Aryna Sabalenka is turning Flushing Meadows into her own private fortress.
The Belarusian’s charge towards a third straight US Open crown stayed on track on Thursday night as she bullied past home favourite Jessica Pegula 7-5 6-2, a performance that felt less like a semi-final and more like a statement.
Twenty wins in a row now in New York. Four consecutive US Open finals. A streak on hard courts at the majors that has no precedent in the Open era. Sabalenka is not just defending a title; she is building a reign.
From frustration to full throttle
For a while, though, it looked anything but comfortable.
Sabalenka opened tight, bristling with irritation as her forehand misfired and the errors piled up. Pegula, 32 and still hunting that elusive first major, settled first. She struck cleanly, used the pace, and quietened the crowd’s early nerves with the kind of controlled aggression that had brought her to this stage.
Sabalenka stalked behind the baseline, muttering, glaring at her strings. The ball flew long, then into the net. Pegula held firm. The tension thickened.
Then the four-time major champion did what champions do. She found a gear Pegula could not match.
At 6-5 in the opening set, Sabalenka finally landed the punch she had been swinging at all night. She stepped in, flattened the backhand, and tore through the game to snatch the set. One surge, one ruthless game, and the semi-final flipped.
The pressure finally told.
Pegula swept aside again
From there, Pegula had the look of a player trapped in a familiar nightmare.
Sabalenka had already denied her a first Grand Slam title in last year’s US Open final and had beaten her in the 2023 semi-finals. Pegula’s one recent bright spot in the rivalry, a win in Berlin in June, felt very distant as the second set unfolded.
Sabalenka began to swing freely. The serve bit harder. The returns came back deeper. Pegula’s time on the ball disappeared.
The numbers told the story. Sabalenka finished with 29 winners to Pegula’s 12, the imbalance most stark in that lopsided second set as the Belarusian raced through it, barely glancing in the rear-view mirror. Pegula, the only semi-finalist in the last four without a major trophy, had no answer once the match turned into a raw power contest.
“I was so desperate to win, I wanted it badly,” Sabalenka said on court, the adrenaline still obvious. “No complaints, I am super happy to pull out such good tennis.”
The crowd, firmly behind their American, knew they had simply watched a better player seize control.
A reign built on hard courts
Sabalenka’s grip on New York has tightened with every passing year. She has not lost a match at Flushing Meadows since the 2023 final defeat to Coco Gauff, and she has now reached every hard-court Grand Slam final since the 2023 Australian Open – an Open era record.
This run comes after a summer that hinted at vulnerability. She rode a blistering start to 2024, sweeping the ‘Sunshine Double’ at Indian Wells and Miami, only to falter when the tour turned. A quarter-final exit at Roland Garros, a fourth-round loss at Wimbledon, and questions began to gather around her form.
Those doubts have been shredded over two weeks in New York. Sabalenka has dropped just one set en route to the final, rediscovering the blend of ferocity and control that made her world number one.
That ranking will slip from her grasp on Monday. Elena Rybakina will take over at the top regardless of what happens in Saturday’s final. Sabalenka knows it. She also knows there is a bigger prize in play: a Grand Slam title to close the year and a place alongside the greats in US Open history.
Chasing Serena and Evert
Only two women in the Open era have won three consecutive US Open singles titles: Serena Williams and Chris Evert. Sabalenka now stands one match away from joining that company.
Waiting for her will be either Rybakina, the Australian Open champion and her incoming successor at number one, or Coco Gauff, the American who denied her in last year’s final and still owns the most painful recent memory of Sabalenka’s New York story.
Either opponent brings its own edge. Against Rybakina, it would be a showdown between the current and future number one, a power duel at the top of the sport. Against Gauff, it would be about revenge, about rewriting the script from 2023 and silencing the home crowd one more time.
Sabalenka, for now, has done her part. She has turned early nerves into dominance, brushed aside a familiar rival, and pushed deeper into territory only legends have walked.
On Saturday night, under the lights of Arthur Ashe Stadium, she plays not just for another trophy, but for her place in the era she is trying to define.
