Supreme Sabalenka wins second consecutive US Open

She had won a second consecutive US Open, her fourth overall, after beating Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 7-6(3). It was a match that showed both sides of Sabalenka’s personality on court.

There are few sportspeople more confounding than her. She can, at times, make an onlooker pound their fist in frustration at the sheer idiocy of a decision in one point, before gasping at her brilliance at the next point. The result is incredibly compelling.

In the past three years, she has made at least the semi-final in all but one of the Grand Slams she has entered. She is world number one by a long way when it comes to points but without the aura that comes from being seen as genuinely unbeatable.

That was particularly the case on Saturday afternoon given the last meeting between the two players. Anisimova had knocked Sabalenka out of Wimbledon at the semi-final stage, before going on to be double-bagelled by Iga Swiatek.

The American had got her own revenge at the quarter-final stage but as much as the losses at Melbourne Park and Roland Garros must have been hanging over Sabalenka, the thought of what had happened the last time she walked out for a Grand Slam final could not have been far from Anisimova’s mind.

It did not look like it however, as she ripped through the first half of the first set. Sabalenka was forced to save three break points and did break Anisimova, but Anisimova broke straight back. Everything was on Anisimova’s racket and it was her who looked like the more experienced player. Sabalenka could not summon the accuracy with her hitting that Anisimova could.

The frustration was apparent from Sabalenka, who even in the first game looked like she was ready to swat an errant butterfly out of the stadium with her racket as she prepared to serve for the game. She has no poker face and opponents feed off it. But there was also a subtle tactical shift. She moved further back. She let Anisimova hit and found the space to make those shots. It was almost Coco Gauff-esque. Maybe it was Paris where she got the idea.

Even as the momentum swung in Sabalenka’s direction, there was room to Sabalenka-herself. Having won the first set, she looked suddenly confident on her serve, until she was serving for the match. Anisimova broke back and the noise levels rose to a claustrophobic level with the match being played under the roof.

But in all of Sabalenka’s turbulence, there is one thing she can rely on. No one beats Aryna Sabalenka in a tiebreak. And as she swanned her way to five championship points, a 20th consecutive tiebreak win felt inevitable.

“It’s been tough this year,” she said in her speech afterwards. “But it’s been worth it right?”

Everyone who watches Sabalenka knows what tough looks like. There was the racket smash after she lost to Madison Keys in Australia. The petulant press conference upon losing to Coco Gauff in France. There has been plenty of deserved criticism for her in those moments but when she turned to Anisimova and said “I know how much it hurts”, that hurt has been writ large across Sabalenka’s whole season.

For Anisimova, perhaps this match was just one too far. It must have taken huge emotional strength to beat Iga Swiatek in the quarter-finals, given what happened the last time they met. To then go and beat Naomi Osaka in the semi-finals, in front of a crowd that was as much rooting for Osaka as they were for the girl from New Jersey, would have only added to all of that. Osaka and Swiatek had ten Grand Slams and plenty of momentum between them. Those matches, and the final, showed that Anisimova making back to back Grand Slam finals is no fluke.

The mental block that appears to have stood between Sabalenka and winning a fourth Grand Slam has at least been overcome. What that means for her in 2026 is almost impossible to say.

In Swiatek and Gauff, she has close rivals who are inconsistent in their own ways. Osaka looks like she may well be refinding Grand Slam-winning form and the American trio of Jessica Pegula, Madison Keys and Anisimova herself all can push for Slams of their own.

That is part of what makes women’s tennis so thrilling at this moment in time. Sabalenka really does look the best of them. But only when she is looking at her best.

Photograph by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images