(NEW YORK) — World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka has won the 2024 U.S. Open women’s singles final, beating No. 6 American Jessica Pegula in straight sets.
The 7-5, 7-5 victory marks Sabalenka’s first U.S. Open win and third Grand Slam title.
“Super happy” is how Sabalenka described herself just hours after winning the U.S. Open.
“It’s very special place here, and to win, to win grand slam in New York,” the winner said in an interview with ABC News. Sabalenka said that she learned a lesson from the 2023 US Open final against Coco Gauff – how to work the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd.
“After last year experience against Coco, probably last year, I didn’t expect that the crowd going to be that loud,” she said adding that during this tournament “I felt so much love, and it was, it was keeping me motivated.”
Saturday was a bit of redemption for the Belarusian player, it was last year’s final where she lost against Gauff after the American fought back to win in three sets.
This time, Sabalenka resurged in the second set after dropping 5 straight games to Pegula.
This is the sixth time Sabalenka beat Pegula. Just last month in Cincinnati, the American was bested in straight sets.
The 24,000 crowd was noticiably on Pegula’s side for much of the match and paired with a closed roof – it made for a loud stadium on the game’s biggest stage.
Pegula’s run at the U.S. Open won’t end with all bad news for her – along with the $1.8 million prize money, Pegula will wake up this Monday as the world number 3 making her the top American female tennis player on the tour.
During her post-match press conference, Pegula said she was annoyed that she lost the match but said she “was able to find some good tennis. Just wasn’t quite able to sustain it.”
Pegula added that she was touched by the number of friends and family were in the stands.
“I had a lot of friends that were just, I’m flying in, I’m coming, I don’t care,” she said, adding, “I felt like in a way, not just my journey, but my friends and family have been on this journey with me as well.”
Standing on the court where she had just won her first U.S. Open, Sabalenka told ABC News that the moment she fell onto court after the championship point brought back so many emotions.
“I was just super proud of myself and my team that that we have, like, so many tough lessons here in the past, and we were able to come back stronger and and then finally, we are holding this beautiful trophy,” Sabalenka said while holding the championship trophy.
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