 "Aryna Sabalenka (L) will face Jessica Pegula (R) in the women's singles final of the US Open. AP")
Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula will battle it out for the US Open women’s title on Saturday. The Belarusian and American, chasing their first US Open title, are united by Grand Slam dreams being overshadowed by personal heartbreak.
Sabalenka, the double Australian Open champion, is into the US Open final for a second successive year after bowing out as runner-up to Coco Gauff in 2023.
Pegula, meanwhile, is in her first major final at 30 years old after stunning top seed Iga Swiatek in the last-eight and then mounting an astonishing comeback to beat Karolina Muchova in the semi-finals.
Sabalenka, from Belarus but based in Florida, is playing in her first Grand Slam final since the death of her ex-boyfriend in March.
Ice hockey player Konstantin Koltsov, once a star of the NHL, died from apparent suicide at the age of 42.
Sabalenka described the death as an “unthinkable tragedy.”
“While we were no longer together, my heart is broken,” she wrote on a social media post.
Five years ago, Sabalenka’s father Sergiy passed away from meningitis at just 43.
It was her father who introduced her to tennis at the age of six when they started hitting balls on empty courts in Minsk.
“I’m just trying to fight because my dad wanted me to be No 1,” she said at the time. “I’m doing it for him.”
She honoured her father’s memory by becoming World No. 1 in September last year, in a season which saw her claim her maiden Slam in Australia, finish runner-up in New York and make the semi-finals at the French Open and Wimbledon.
Much is made of Pegula being the daughter of oil mogul Terry and Kim Pegula, the billionaire owners of the Buffalo Bills NFL team and Buffalo Sabres NHL ice hockey side.
However, the family’s luxury lifestyle counted for little in June 2022 when Kim went into cardiac arrest and suffered brain damage and memory loss.
“My mom loved to work. She did everything and our family constantly told her how she needs to slow down and take time for herself,” Pegula wrote in a moving first-person post for Players Tribune in February 2023.
“She gave everyone so much of her time and effort. She lived it and loved it, and it was felt by everyone she met. Now we come to the realisation that all of that is most likely gone. That she won’t be able to be that person anymore.”
Pegula, who had lost in Grand Slam quarter-finals six times before finally breaking through to the US Open championship match, will enjoy the support of the 24,000-capacity crowd inside Arthur Ashe Stadium on Saturday.
Sabalenka said she is ready for that after thinly-disguised criticism of the crowd in her semi-final win over New York-born Emma Navarro.
“Last year it was a very tough experience, a very tough lesson,” said Sabalenka of her 2023 final defeat to Gauff where she let slip a one-set lead.
“Today I was like, No, no, no, Aryna, it’s not going to happen again. You have to control your emotions. You have to focus on yourself.
“There was people supporting for me. I was trying to focus on them.”
Head-to-head
Sabalenka enjoys a 5-2 head-to-head record over Pegula, winning their most recent clash in the final at Cincinnati last month.
That loss was the only one suffered by Pegula in the North American hardcourt season. She has racked up 15 wins in 16 matches.
Victory on Saturday would make Sabalenka the first woman since Angelique Kerber in 2016 to win both hardcourt Slams in the same season.
Pegula, meanwhile, would become only the third woman after Ann Jones (1969 Wimbledon) and Flavia Pennetta (2015 US Open) in the modern era to win her first major title after turning 30.
“If you would have told me at the beginning of the year I’d be in the finals of the US Open, I would have laughed so hard,” admitted Pegula who missed the European clay court swing with a back injury.
When is the US Open women’s singles final?
The women’s singles final between Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula will take place on Arthur Ashe Stadium on Saturday, 7 September at 4pm local time. That means 1:30am IST on 8 September.
Where to watch the US Open women’s singles final?
The US Open women’s singles final will be broadcast on Sony Network. It will be live streamed on the SonyLiv app.
How many ranking points and prize money are at stake?
By making the US Open final, Sabalenka and Pegula have assured themselves of 1,300 points and $1,800,000.
The winner will earn 2,000 points and $3,600,000.
Pegula will return to World No. 3 in the WTA Rankings after the tournament. Sabalenka will leave New York at World No. 2 in the WTA Rankings.
What are some of the milestones at stake?
Sabalenka is trying to win her third major title, which would move her to fourth place among active players behind Venus Williams (7), Iga Swiatek (5) and Naomi Osaka (4). A win would net her a 16th career title and third of the season.
Sabalenka can become the first woman since Kerber in 2016 to sweep the hard-court Slams in a single season. Only four players have done it in the Open Era: Steffi Graf (1988,89), Monica Seles (1991,92), Martina Hingis (1997) and Kerber (2016).
She could also become the fourth player in the past decade to win multiple Slams in a single season, joining Serena Williams (2015), Kerber (2016), and Swiatek (2022).
Pegula is bidding to capture her first Grand Slam title and seventh career title. She can also win her third title of the year after Berlin and Toronto.
Pegula can become the 10th American woman to win the US Open and fifth since 2000, joining Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Sloane Stephens and Gauff. She would also be the first Asian American woman to win a Grand Slam singles title in the Open Era.
Pegula can join Ann Jones (1969 Wimbledon) and Flavia Pennetta (2015 US Open) as the only women in the Open Era to win her first major title after turning 30. She would also be the oldest player to win the title in New York since Pennetta.
Having already defeated Swiatek in the quarters, Pegula could become the first woman to defeat both No. 1 and No. 2 en route to a major title since Svetlana Kuznetsova at the 2009 French Open. She would be the first to do it at the US Open since Maria Sharapova in 2006.
With Gauff sealing the title last year, a Pegula win would be the first time two different Americans won the US Open in consecutive years since 2001-02 when the Williams sisters won the title.