Aryna Sabalenka Defends US Open Crown, Securing Back-to-Back Titles After Tense Final

Aryna Sabalenka secured her second consecutive US Open title with a 6-3, 7-6 (3) victory over Amanda Anisimova on Saturday in New York, becoming the first woman since Serena Williams to win back-to-back championships at this tournament.The world No. 1 player claimed her fourth Grand Slam title on hard courts, demonstrating remarkable power and precision throughout most of the match.Sabalenka established control early, taking the first set 6-3 and securing multiple breaks in the second set.The match reached a critical moment when Sabalenka served for the championship at 5-4 in the second set. At 30-all, she missed a crucial overhead shot, putting the ball into the net and giving Anisimova a break opportunity.Following this mistake, Sabalenka dropped her racket on the court and displayed a rueful smile. Anisimova, the 24-year-old American, capitalised on this opportunity to level the set at 5-all, drawing enthusiastic support from the 24,000 spectators at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Despite this setback, Sabalenka regained her composure and eventually prevailed in the tiebreak. After 15 minutes of additional play, she secured the victory on her third match point, dropping to her knees and covering her face with both hands in celebration.Stats from Aryna Sabalenka's US Open run- Aryna Sabalenka is the first woman since Serena Williams (2012-14) to successfully defend the US Open title- Sabalenka has only twice successfully defended titles before in her career: at Wuhan in 2018-19 and Australian Open 2023-24- This is Sabalenka's fourth Grand Slam singles title - all of them have come on hard courts- Sabalenka is the first World No. 1 and top seed to win the US Open title since Iga Swiatek in 2022- Sabalenka now has a 100-26 win-loss record in Grand Slam main draw matches. Her record at US Open now reads 34-6- She is the second woman in the Open Era to claim her 100th Grand Slam match-win in a Grand Slam final – Swiatek achieved the same feat at Wimbledon this year- No one has more match wins this year than Sabalenka. She improved to 56-10 win-loss this year and took her titles tally to four (21 in her career)- Sabalenka will remain the World No. 1. She had already guaranteed that by reaching the quarterfinals- Sabalenka now has 50 top-10 wins in her career