How a reset in Cincinnati led to Sabalenka’s US Open win

NEW YORK — Let’s rewind the tape. Four weeks ago, Aryna Sabalenka went into Cincinnati after a pair of disappointing losses. She was all over the place in Washington D.C., her first tournament since withdrawing from Wimbledon with a shoulder injury.

She barely scratched by Kamilla Rakhimova in the first round and then let a rain delay derail her in a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 loss to Marie Bouzkova in the semifinals. In Toronto, she was blitzed off the court by Amanda Anisimova in the quarterfinals, losing 6-4, 6-2.

Sabalenka was transparently honest before she played her first match in Cincinnati. She was treating the week as a practice week, not for her tennis but for her emotional control.

“I have to build that belief and calmness and court,” Sabalenka said in Cincinnati. “That really helped me two years ago to get my first Grand Slam title. So I think I felt I have to get back on that mindset. And I was kind of like, I’m gonna be calm from the beginning to the end of the match. Even if I lose the match easily, I have to stay calm. I have to practice that.”

Twelve matches later, she’s the Cincinnati Open and US Open champion. Over that stretch, she lost just one set and scored a win over the World No.1. And as she faced down Jessica Pegula and the partisan American crowd in the US Open final, Sabalenka never let the occasion rattle her. Pegula asked all the right questions in their high-quality two-hour battle, and Sabalenka nailed every answer with a defiant roar.

It’s a credit to Sabalenka and her team that she continues to grow her game and mature as a player with every season. Whether it’s adding more variety to her game, beefing up her serve, or working to internalize her intensity rather than let it undo her, there is no part of Sabalenka’s game that she’s not willing to address. That takes a very specific alchemy of courage, ambition and humility.

“We will continue and hopefully one day we’re gonna see me serve and volley,” Sabalenka said. “I’m not sure I’m brave enough to do that, but maybe once I will come up with this Plan C.

“Hopefully we’ll never need it, but whatever. Whatever it takes, you know?”

Honor Roll

Jessica Pegula: “I would like to say I’m so happy that you guys cannot ask me about making it to the semis,” Pegula said jokingly to the press immediately after her tremendous win over World No.1 Iga Swiatek broke her 0-for-6 duck in Grand Slam quarterfinals.

Then came a trip to her first Grand Slam final after a comeback victory against Karolina Muchova. And it was almost a complete fairytale ending for the American, pushing Sabalenka to the limit in two tight sets, but Pegula had to settle for the runner-up plate.

Nevertheless, Pegula is way back on the upswing after missing the entire European clay-court season due to injury (barring the late-summer Olympics) and suffering an early Wimbledon loss. She went 15-2 in the hard-court summer and is back to her career-high ranking of No.3.

Karolina Muchova: Once the hot shots started showing up in her very first match (see below), Muchova served notice she was back to her best in New York.

A scintillating second-round victory over former champion Naomi Osaka and a Top 5 win over Jasmine Paolini in the Round of 16 extended her run, and the Czech eventually defended all of her ranking points from last year by reaching the semifinals for the second straight year.

“To even get to the semis and to feel that my game is there, that I can compete against the best, I can win against them, it’s something that I didn’t know when it will come back to me,” said Muchova, who missed 10 months on tour after last year’s US Open with an injury. “I’m healthy and I can play more tournaments this year. That’s actually the most important thing.”

Emma Navarro: The 23-year-old American cannot stop hitting new milestones in 2024. Navarro made her first Grand Slam semifinal this week, propelling her into the Top 10 for the first time in her career.

“I was kind of joking a little bit with my team, but a little bit serious, as well, that I was looking to win one match at the US Open,” said Navarro, who was 0-2 at the US Open main draw before this year.

“Now to be leaving having made a run and gotten to the semifinals, and now I’m a Top 10 player, it’s pretty crazy, and I think it’s a testament to a lot of hard work.”

Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko: Kichenok postponed her wedding because she couldn’t stop winning at the US Open. At that point, she might as well go all the way to the women’s doubles title, which she did alongside long-time partner Ostapenko.

Sara Errani: A veteran on the hottest of hot streaks, Errani followed up her Olympic gold medal in women’s doubles — which gave her the career Golden Slam in doubles — by winning her first Grand Slam mixed doubles title alongside fellow Italian Andrea Vavassori.

Mika Stojsavljevic: The 15-year-old took home the Junior US Open singles title, becoming the first Brit to hoist that trophy since Heather Watson in 2009.

Hot Shots

There was no shortage of breathtaking plays at the year’s final Grand Slam event. Consider Karolina Muchova’s behind-the-back stunner in the first round:

Or … hey, how about Karolina Muchova again? Paying homage to Roger Federer with the SABR:

It can’t all be Muchova magic, of course. Aryna Sabalenka did win the title, mixing power and precision perfectly in points like this:

Notable Numbers

100: The US Open final was Aryna Sabalenka’s 100th singles match at a Grand Slam event. She is the third player to have her 100th Grand Slam singles match be a title-winning victory, along with Chris Evert (US Open 1977) and Lindsay Davenport (US Open 1998).

3: All three of Sabalenka’s Grand Slam singles titles have come on hard court (also the 2023 and 2024 Australian Opens). Only Naomi Osaka, who won two US Opens and two Australian Opens, owns more hard-court Grand Slam titles than Sabalenka among active players.

4: Jessica Pegula became only the fourth player in the Open Era to reach the singles finals at the National Bank Open (Canada), Cincinnati Open and US Open in a single season after Rosemary Casals (1970), Evonne Goolagong Cawley (1973) and Serena Williams (2013).

1968: Beatriz Haddad Maia became the first Brazilian woman to reach the US Open singles quarterfinals since Maria Bueno in 1968, which was the first year of the Open Era.

From the Camera Roll

World No.1 Iga Swiatek caught some air during her second-round victory:

Karolina Muchova’s return to form — and the semifinals — made a noticeable impression during the entire event:

If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere — Aryna Sabalenka went all the way to the title in NYC.

Next Up

Hard-court action continues this week, with some players heading south to Latin America and others flying over to Northern Africa.

At the WTA 500 Guadalajara Open Akron presented by Santander, Jelena Ostapenko, Danielle Collins and former World No.1 Victoria Azarenka are the top three seeds. Last year’s runner-up Caroline Dolehide is seeded No.8 and hopes to go one further in Mexico this time around.

Guadalajara: Scores | Order of Play | Draws
Monastir: Scores | Order of Play | Draws

And at the WTA 250 Jasmin Open Tunisia in Monastir, No.1 seed Elise Mertens will try to maintain her dominance. Mertens won the first two editions of the Tunisian event in 2022 and 2023, and she will aim for the hat-trick and a perfect 15-0 career tournament record this year.