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Fire still burns as Aryna Sabalenka wins US Open
The win gave Sabalenka a fourth Grand Slam title, and she became the first women’s singles player to defend her US Open crown since the great Serena Williams’ hat-trick from 2012 to 2014
Mumbai: Aryna Sabalenka came to the US Open with a new look to her racquet. The usual dark green of the specific model she uses had been decorated with images of flames. It was to remind her that, despite the tough losses at the majors this year, the fire still burned within.
She tossed that racquet aside on the blue court of Arthur Ashe Stadium on Saturday night. Her weapon had served its purpose.
She sank to the floor, face in hands, and wept. When she got up, she stood on court as the US Open champion once again.
In front of a packed and partisan crowd, Sabalenka took on eighth-seeded American Amanda Anisimova in the women’s singles final, scoring a hard-fought 6-3, 7-6(3) win in a match that lasted 94 minutes.
The victory gave Sabalenka her fourth Grand Slam title, and she became the first women’s singles player to defend her US Open crown since the great Serena Williams’ hat-trick from 2012 to 2014. The triumph also lifted a great weight off her shoulders.
This season was the first time the 27-year-old from Belarus started the year as the world No.1. But in her first major of the season, the two-time defending champion of the Australian Open lost in the final to American Madison Keys.
Once the clay swing began, Sabalenka’s next focus was to break free from the shackles of being considered only a hard-court Grand Slam specialist. She did well to reach her first French Open final, but in an error-ridden match, lost to Coco Gauff. A month later, she reached the Wimbledon semi-final but was upset in three sets by Anisimova.
The defeats piled on the pressure.
“I badly wanted to give myself another opportunity, another final, and prove to myself that I’ve learnt from those tough lessons and I can do better in the finals,” she had said after her semi-final win.
What she had learnt from those defeats showed in the slightly different approach she adopted at the start of the match. In what was touted as a battle between two hard-hitting baseliners, the top seed came out holding back the pace.
Her average groundstroke speeds throughout the tournament had been in the mid-70 mph range. But in the first set on Saturday, Sabalenka dropped her shot speed to an average of 68 mph on the forehand side and 69 mph on the backhand.
This was a remarkable adjustment for a player who is a compulsive power-hitter. Slowing down saw her hit only three winners in the first set to Anisimova’s 13. But what Sabalenka sacrificed in power, she made up for with accuracy, conceding only four unforced errors in the opening set to Anisimova’s 15.
The second set, though, became more of a battle of attrition. Both players clobbered the ball hard toward each other, especially on the return of serve, to catch the opponent off balance.
The Belarusian was ready to defend with everything she had. She showed it early in the second set.
In the first point of the third game, Anisimova had control of the rally, hammering a forehand cross-court that Sabalenka, on the run, barely connected with. The ball just about clipped the line, but the American was there to hit heavily into Sabalenka’s vacant backhand side.
Sabalenka just about got there and played a defensive lob to slow down the pace. Anisimova then attempted a drop shot, and Sabalenka raced forward to play a delicate dink over the net for a winner. Sabalenka got the first break in that game.
Anisimova wouldn’t go away, though. The American, who had a 6-3 head-to-head record over Sabalenka going into the match, returned aggressively as the defending champion served for the title. She earned the break to level the scores at 5-5.
Both served out their games quickly to take the set into the tiebreak. That’s where Sabalenka proved to be a different beast.
For all the errors and inconsistencies Sabalenka has shown this season, it is in tiebreaks where she has truly thrived. She did, after all, have a stunning 20-1 record in tiebreaks this season going into the match, winning 18 on the trot.
If she was holding back early in the match, Sabalenka pulled out all the stops in the tiebreak. She hit powerfully and raced into a 6-1 lead. And on her third Championship Point, the first on her own serve, she drew a service winner.
Despite almost everyone in the stands rooting for the American, who was born in a town roughly 75 miles from the Billie Jean King Tennis Center, Sabalenka remained calm throughout the match. She had learnt to keep her emotions in check.
If this was a difficult year for Sabalenka on the Grand Slam circuit, the hard-court specialist managed to turn her fortunes around on her favourite surface.
“All those tough lessons,” she said during the trophy ceremony, “were worth (it) for this (win).”
The fire still burns.
