Aryna Sabalenka has powered her way to her third Grand Slam title.
The Belarus star beat American Jessica Pegula 7-5, 7-5 to win the US Open women’s singles championship on Saturday.
The second-seeded Sabalenka, 26, also won the Australian Open this year and last year. She was runner-up at last year’s US Open after losing to Coco Gauff in the final and dropped semifinals the previous two years.
The sixth-seeded Pegula, a native of Buffalo, N.Y., never had advanced to a Grand Slam semifinal prior to this week.
It was Sabalenka’s second win over Pegula in a hard-court final this summer after she topped the American in the Cincinnati Open championship last month.
Pegula, 30, won the previous tournament, taking the National Bank Open title in Toronto for a second year in a row.
On Saturday, Sabalenka broke Pegula in the final game of the first set to seal it. She finally finished it off on her fifth set point of the game.
Sabalenka then raced out to a 3-0 lead in the second set before the resilient Pegula fought back to win the next five games. However, Sabalenka was able to rebound and finish off the match by taking the next four games.
Italy’s Jannik Sinner faces American Taylor Fritz in the men’s final on Sunday.
