The US Open 2024 women’s singles final lived up to its hype. Aryna Sabalenka clinched the title with a 7-5, 7-5 win over Jessica Pegula in a hard-fought contest on Saturday afternoon at the Arthur Ashe Stadium. Sabalenka’s power game was no match to Pegula’s plucky approach, but the Belarussian also had the amount of time spent on court leading up to the final, in her favor.
That was a factor which made a huge difference eventually. Entering the finals matchup, Sabalenka already had a huge advantage over her opponent, despite the latter winning 14 of her last 15 matches. Both the finalists had played the same amount of sets – dropping one set each. However, Sabalenka has played almost an hour lesser.
Through the first six matches of the New York-based major tournament, Sabalenka has spent a total of 8 hours and 19 minutes on the court. Whereas, the in-form American star had spent as much as 9 hours and 7 minutes. J-Pegula’s semifinal battle against Karolina Muchova was the most grueling of all, lasting 2 hours and 12 minutes.
Despite being much more tired than the World No.3, Pegula had a great serving display in the first set – recorded more aces and fewer double faults than her opponent. The fatigue kicked in the most during the longer rallies. Sabalenka, recognizing the same, used this to an advantage and made the New York-born WTA star constantly run the length and breadths of the court.
Pegula seemed a bit sluggish during the first set and the first three games of the second set and in the context of the match, those moments helped Sabalenka get the result she wanted. Although Pegula played some incredible tennis to take a 5-3 lead in the second set at one point, the American was exhausted and that powered the World No.2’s run of winning the next 4 games to take the match and the championship title home.
This has been a remarkable North American swing from Sabalenka, whose Wimbledon campaign was cut short due to injury. It made her miss the Olympics, but it eventually proved to be a blessing in disguise for her. She used the downtime to heal from her injury, rest and recover for the second half of the season back home in Miami. Sabalenka won the Cincinnati Open and backed it up with a US Open title, which could fuel her surge to the World No.1 ranking in the near future.
