Aryna Sabalenka was two points away from what eventually would be a second consecutive US Open title when she had what should have been a routine — easy, even — overhead smash. Instead, while backpedaling, she dumped the ball into the net, giving her opponent, Amanda Anisimova, a break chance.
After that excruciating miss on Saturday, Sabalenka dropped her racket on the blue court and smiled ruefully. She began to feel the sort of emotions that got the better of her during losses in the finals at the Australian Open in January and the French Open in June bubble up. She tried to compose herself.
“I just let the doubt get into my head,” Sabalenka said, “but then I turned around and I took a deep breath in, and I was like, ‘OK. It happens. It’s in the past. Let’s focus on the next one.’”
Photo: EPA
So everything was fine from there? Well, no. “She broke me,” Sabalenka said with a loud laugh. “I was like, ‘OK. Reset.’”
It took another 15 minutes to complete the job, but the No. 1-seeded Sabalenka did reset, unlike at those earlier title matches this year, and was able to kneel on Arthur Ashe Stadium’s court while covering her face with her hands after beating Anisimova 6-3, 7-6 (7/3). That made Sabalenka the first woman to earn the trophy at Flushing Meadows in consecutive years since Serena Williams from 2012 to 2014.
“I truly really admire her,” said No. 8 seed Anisimova, a 24-year-old American who heard raucous support from the 24,000 or so spectators. “She puts in a lot of work, and that’s why she’s where she is.”
Photo: EPA
Sabalenka, a 27-year-old from Belarus, earned her fourth Grand Slam trophy — all on hard courts — and avoided becoming the first woman to lose three major finals in a season since Justine Henin in 2006.
Sabalenka was the runner-up to Madison Keys at Melbourne Park and to Coco Gauff at Roland-Garros.
Those defeats helped her on Saturday.
Photo: EPA
“After the Australian Open, I thought that the right way would be just to forget it and move on, but then the same thing happened at the French Open,” said Sabalenka, who showed up at her post-match news conference with a bottle of Champagne and a pair of dark goggles atop her head. “So after French Open, I figured that, OK, maybe it’s time for me to sit back and to look at those finals and to maybe learn something, because I didn’t want it to happen again and again and again.”
As Anisimova kept making things close again, and the crowd kept getting louder, Sabalenka reminded herself to focus on herself.
It worked.
When Anisimova trailed Sabalenka 2-0, 30-love as Saturday’s match began, some fans might have wondered: There’s no way there’s going to be a repeat of Wimbledon, right? That is because Anisimova’s first major final, in July at the All England Club, ended with a 6-0, 6-0 shutout against Iga Swiatek.
However, Anisimova grabbed the next four points to break back, capping the game with a backhand winner and a forehand winner. That got folks on their feet shouting, and Anisimova exhaled as she walked to the sideline. Soon, she led 3-2.
That was another moment that could have thrown Sabalenka. Nope. She took the next four games and that set.
It began pouring before the match, so Ashe’s roof was shut and its artificial lights were on. That was a problem for Anisimova, who said she had a hard time seeing the ball during serve tosses.
HARD STRIKERS
The setup also created windless conditions, ideal for two ball-strikers who really can bring the power with good contact — and that is what they both did.
Some exchanges were breathtaking — to them, certainly, and to those in the stands who gasped at the power during longer points. The rewards can be huge, as can the risks, and Anisimova was seeking the lines with full cuts off both sides.
“I think I didn’t fight hard enough for my dreams today,” said Anisimova, who buried her face in a towel after the match.
Of Sabalenka’s first 13 points, just one came via her own winner. The others? Six unforced errors and six forced errors by Anisimova.
By the end, Anisimova had nearly twice as many winners as Sabalenka, 22-13, and nearly twice as many unforced errors, too, 29-15.
“There was two moments where I was really close to lose control,” Sabalenka said later, “but ... I told myself, ‘No, it’s not going to happen. It’s absolutely OK.’”
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