Sabalenka beats Pegula to reach fourth straight US Open final

Aryna Sabalenka beat Jessica Pegula 7-5, 6-2 in Thursday night's US Open semifinal at Arthur Ashe Stadium, extending her winning streak at the tournament to 20 matches and moving within one win of a third consecutive championship. The top-seeded Belarusian advances to Saturday's final, where she will face the winner of Thursday's second semifinal between second seed Elena Rybakina and fourth seed Coco Gauff.

A statement in a familiar matchup

This was the third year running that Sabalenka and Pegula have met at the US Open in a high-stakes match. Sabalenka won the 2024 final and the 2025 semifinal as well, and Thursday's meeting, which improved her career record against the American to 10-4, was statistically the most one-sided of the three. Pegula, the No. 3 seed, had no answer for Sabalenka's serve or her return position. According to the official match record, the American faced only a single break point in the entire match and did not convert it, while Sabalenka broke serve three times in eight chances. The first set went with serve into its 12th game, Pegula serving to stay in it at 5-6, before a return sailed into the net and handed Sabalenka the set 7-5. The second set turned quickly: Sabalenka broke for 3-1 with a 91-mph forehand return winner and did not let Pegula back into it, closing out the match on a forehand into the corner after Pegula's own return went long. Working the broadcast, former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki called Sabalenka's serving and returning "flawless" through the match.

By the numbers

• 7-5, 6-2 — the final score, completed under the lights at Arthur Ashe Stadium
• 7 aces and 3 double faults for Sabalenka, who won roughly 71 percent of her service points; Pegula had 4 aces and no double faults but won just 62 percent of hers
• 3-for-8 on break-point chances for Sabalenka; Pegula's only break point of the match went unconverted
• 10-4 — Sabalenka's career head-to-head record against Pegula, and 20 straight matches won at the US Open

A rocky road back to New York

Sabalenka's path to Saturday's final has not been a straight line. She opened 2026 by winning the Brisbane International, then lost the Australian Open final to Rybakina in three sets, a result that foreshadowed the ranking battle the two would wage all year. She responded by winning Indian Wells, beating Rybakina in the final, and then Miami, beating Gauff in a three-set final to become just the fifth woman in tour history to complete the Sunshine Double, sweeping both hard-court Masters events in the same season. The clay and grass swings were rougher: a quarterfinal loss in Madrid, a third-round exit in Rome, a quarterfinal loss at the French Open, a semifinal defeat to Pegula herself in Berlin, and a fourth-round exit at Wimbledon to Naomi Osaka. Thursday's win was, in part, a reminder that whatever trouble Sabalenka found on clay and grass this year, hard courts at a Grand Slam remain the surface where she is nearly unbeatable.

Chasing a feat only two women have managed

A third straight US Open title would put Sabalenka in select company. Only Chris Evert and Serena Williams have won three or more consecutive US Open women's singles titles since the tournament went open in 1968. Evert won four in a row from 1975 through 1978, beating Evonne Goolagong 6-3, 6-0 in the 1976 final and Wendy Turnbull 7-6, 6-2 in 1977. Williams won three straight from 2012 through 2014, twice beating Victoria Azarenka in the final and closing out the run with a win over Caroline Wozniacki; Sabalenka is now the first woman since Williams to reach four consecutive US Open finals. Sabalenka is already a four-time major champion, with titles at the 2023 and 2024 Australian Open and the 2024 and 2025 US Open, but she arrives at this final without the ranking that used to go with that résumé. Earlier in this tournament, Rybakina's run to the semifinals ended Sabalenka's more than two-year hold on the No. 1 ranking. Asked before the semifinals whether she would trade the top ranking for a third straight title, Sabalenka did not hesitate. "Yes, three-peat. Sounds great," she said.

What Saturday is worth

The stakes are also financial, and larger than they have ever been at this tournament. The US Open increased its total prize pool to a record $108 million this year, and the singles champion's share rose to $5.5 million, the largest single prize in Grand Slam history. The runner-up is guaranteed $2.8 million, and both semifinalists, Pegula included, have already banked at least $1.45 million simply for reaching the final four.

"I'm super happy I was able to play such tennis. I wanted it so badly."

Sabalenka offered that assessment of her own performance afterward, according to wire reporting from the match. Pegula, still chasing her first Grand Slam singles title, had needed three sets and two hours and 20 minutes to get past Emma Navarro in the quarterfinal two days earlier, a match she described afterward as a grind. "It was really tough. It was physical, humid," Pegula said. "I wasn't exactly serving my best, and I was fighting a lot of demons out there today." Thursday's semifinal was Pegula's third straight year losing to Sabalenka in a significant US Open match, after the 2024 final and the 2025 semifinal.

What happens next

Thursday's second semifinal, between world No. 1 Rybakina and 2023 champion Gauff, was still to be decided as Sabalenka met with reporters. A trip to the final would be a career breakthrough for Rybakina, who had never advanced past the fourth round at the US Open women's singles draw before this year. A win for Gauff would set up a rematch of the 2023 final, the last time Sabalenka lost a US Open title match. Sabalenka and the winner meet Saturday at Arthur Ashe Stadium for the women's singles championship, with a place in tennis history, and the largest prize in the sport, on the line for the top seed.