By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
You are now a US Open Grand Slam champion, Aryna Sabalenka!
Seeking to move on after a heartbreaking defeat to Coco Gauff in the same place at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, New York last year, Belarusian tennis ace Aryna Sabalenka capped off her US Open campaign this time with the golden trophy after blanking Jessica Pegula in the finals- 7.5, 7.5- on September 8, 2024.
The second time is a charm, indeed.
Entering the grand finale without a single set dropped in her last three matches, Sabalenka was expected to have another flawless performance in the US Open but blocking her way on her path to gold was the undaunted Pegula who took down Karolina Muchova and world no. 1 ranked Iga Swiatek.
As expected, Sabalenka came out firing from all cylinders after quickly establishing her dominance in the baseline rally exchanges, out-pointing Pegula during their long groundstroke trades.
Pegula didn’t think twice and played the countered game when she attacked the net that caught Sabalenka by surprise midway through the opening set.
With her last two matches solely revolving around the baseline game, Pegula gave Sabalenka a new look in the grand finals as she varied her attack with several net kills to drag the match longer.
Just when Pegula thought she could keep herself within striking distance, Sabalenka displayed a high-level IQ adjustment when she deployed an insane barrage of efficient shot-making points.
From her drop shots to her cross-court return aces, Sabalenka overwhelmed Pegula to cap off a tightly contested first set with a 1-0 lead.
Sabalenka ramped up the intensity in the second and last period after tearing a page from her playbook in her win over Emma Navarro during the semifinals.
To repel the hyper-aggressive Pegula swarming to the net, Sabalenka decided to take the risk and fire off-the-bounce forehand drives that worked to perfection in the most crucial stretch of the finals.
Sabalenka’s insane power continued to put the crowd in Queens to their feet and slowly affected Pegula’s baseline stability.
With the win, Sabalenka just collected her third overall Grand Slam championship trophy after winning her first two in the Australian Open.
“Hi guys, this is Aryna Sabalenka, and I just won this beautiful trophy. It means a lot to me. Thank you so much for the support,” said Sabalenka in a video posted on social media.
