No. 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka turned the primary girl since Serena Williams in 2013 and 2014 to win back-to-back US Open titles on Saturday, as she cruised previous No. 8 seed Amanda Anisimova in straight units, 6-3, 7-6(3).
Sabalenka did not appear to have her absolute A-game on Saturday, however she did not want it as Anisimova appeared to battle early on with the nerves of her second straight grand slam ultimate look. The younger American did fare higher than her 6-0, 6-0 loss to Iga Swiatek within the Wimbledon ultimate earlier within the 12 months, however she had wayward misses, each on her serve and groundstrokes, and let herself get flustered by the little issues — together with complaining to her field about not having the ability to see the ball on her serve toss within the lights.
The serve struggles confirmed most when she did not get her first serve in, as Sabalenka pounced on her second serve and gained 18-of-28 factors when returning these efforts (together with seven double faults from Anisimova). Past that, Anisimova clearly got here in with a recreation plan to go massive in opposition to the world No. 1, and that produced some good winners (22 within the match) but additionally quite a few unforced errors (29 whole).
Sabalenka appeared to acknowledge that Anisimova was urgent early, and made an adjustment to her aggressive opponent, pushing Anisimova additional again behind the baseline along with her personal energy however not forcing the difficulty herself. As a substitute, Sabalenka leaned on her robust serve and allowed Anisimova to make the errors, because the world No. 1 produced 13 winners and 15 unforced errors however managed to regulate the match in key moments.
Anisimova did present some terrific resolve to drive a second set tiebreak, choosing up a late break with Sabalenka making an attempt to serve out the match at 5-4. Nevertheless, Sabalenka confirmed why she got here into the match 20-1 in tiebreaks this season, as she shortly jumped out to a 6-1 lead earlier than ending it at 7-3.
With the win, Sabalenka picks up her fourth grand slam title, with all of them approaching arduous courts — two Australian Opens and two US Opens. She has now gained a grand slam title in every of the previous three years and can keep her No. 1 world rating by a large margin going into the 2026 season.
For Anisimova, it is one other powerful loss in a ultimate, however she confirmed progress from her Wimbledon efficiency and, whereas the nerves have been nonetheless current, confirmed some improbable struggle to push Sabalenka all the way in which to the end.
