Aryna Sabalenka beats Jessica Pegula to win her first US Open: NPR

Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus reacts against Jessica Pegula of the United States during the women’s singles final of the US Open in New York on Saturday.

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Frank Franklin II/AP

NEW YORK – Aryna Sabalenka defeated Jessica Pegula 7-5, 7-5 in a thrilling US Open women’s final on Saturday to win her first Flushing Meadows title and the third Grand Slam title of her career.

Sabalenka, a 26-year-old Belarusian, adds this trophy to the two she has won at the Australian Open in each of the past two seasons, also on hard court. And the victory allowed her to leave Arthur Ashe Stadium in a far better mood than when she was runner-up to Coco Gauff at the 2023 US Open.

Pegula, a New York native whose parents own the Buffalo Bills in the NFL and the Buffalo Sabres in the NHL, was competing in a major final for the first time. She has won 15 of her last 17 games over the past month, but both of her losses came to Sabalenka in tournament finals.

No. 2 seed Sabalenka seemed to be in full control as she won five games in a row, winning the first set and taking a 3-0 lead in the second before No. 6 seed Pegula made things more exciting. In the next game, Pegula dropped a point and showed her frustration by hitting a ball off the video board behind the baseline, dislodging a small square board in the process.

Perhaps that eased some of the tension for the 30-year-old American, because suddenly Pegula broke through and took advantage of her own five-game run. But when she served at 5-4 and had a chance to force a third set, Pegula let Sabalenka level the second set with a break.

This was part of a three-game comeback by Sabalenka that won the match. Shortly after, she collapsed on the court, dropping her racket and covering her face with both arms as she lay on her back.

Sabalenka is as demonstrative as anyone in the sport, and her body language is usually an accurate indicator of whether she is doing well – or not.

Because she stuttered a bit early on Saturday, it was hard to tell what she was thinking against Pegula, who eliminated No. 1 seed Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals.

Even when she was down 2-0 and just one point from 3-1, Sabalenka responded to her own mistakes – or winners from Pegula’s racket – by simply turning her back on the court and exuding calm as elite athletes from other sports such as Stephen Curry, Lewis Hamilton and Noah Lyles watched from the stands.

Once Sabalenka got going and her powerful shots – her forehands were the fastest in two weeks, faster than those of any woman or man – were perfectly timed, it quickly became clear that the outcome would depend on what she did.

In the end, the statistics made this clear: Sabalenka ended up with far more winners than Pegula (40-17) and also more unforced errors (34-22). Sabalenka controlled most of the rallies, while Pegula mainly had to rely on reacting as well as she could.

There was a moment when Sabalenka was visibly angry, coming at 5-5 in the first set when she double-faulted to fend off a break point, then leaned forward and slammed her racket into the ground four times while holding the handle with both hands.

She fended off the break point, held on to the match and then beat Pegula to win the first set.

A year ago, Sabalenka lost a lead against Gauff. This time, she didn’t let that happen again.