Aryna Sabalenka beats Jessica Pegula to win the US Open for her third Grand Slam title

NEW YORK (AP) — Aryna Sabalenka left the U.S. Open in tears 12 months ago as the runner-up. She exited in the semifinals each of the two years before that, other losses that were difficult to digest. On Saturday, Sabalenka was in a joking mood after winning her first championship at Flushing Meadows and the third Grand Slam title of her career.

Sabalenka, the No. 2 seed, got past No. 6 Jessica Pegula 7-5, 7-5 in a rollicking final under a closed retractable roof at Arthur Ashe Stadium, displaying her typical power while sprinkling in some variation to add this triumph to those at the Australian Open each of the past two seasons.

“I had a lot of tough lessons here … especially last year,” Sabalenka, a 26-year-old from Belarus, said after grabbing the last two games of the first set and the last four of the match. “In those tough moments (Saturday), I was just trying to stay strong and trying to remind myself that I have been through a lot and I’m strong enough to hold under this pressure.”

Sitting near the U.S. Open trophy at her news conference, Sabalenka alluded to “a lot of challenges” away from the court. There was the death of her father in 2019. The death of an ex-boyfriend this March. A right shoulder problem that forced her to withdraw from Wimbledon right before it began this July.

“After I lost my father, it’s always been my goal to put our family name in the history of tennis,” she said. “Every time I see my name on that trophy, I’m so proud of myself, I’m proud of my family that they never gave up on my dream and that they were doing everything they could to keep me going.”

Also driving her: what she called “all those tough losses in the past here.”

That includes semifinal defeats in 2021 against Leylah Fernandez and in 2022 against No. 1 Iga Swiatek.

Most poignant, of course, was last year, when Sabalenka was rattled by the Ashe crowd, blew a set advantage and was defeated by Coco Gauff. Like Gauff, Pegula is an American, but the spectators were far more generous toward Sabalenka this time, applauding her best efforts and even obliging when she waved her arms to ask for extra noise.

After extending her winning streak to 12 matches, Sabalenka thanked the fans for cheering for her — which probably (wink, wink) was unrelated to her kidding offer of “Drinks on me” after an earlier victory.

There were light moments Saturday evening, too. After her coach, Anton Dubrov, was awarded a smaller version of the champion’s trophy for his role in her success, Sabalenka teased that its size “actually looks sad” compared to the real thing. She also laughed after pointing out that if both guzzle booze out of their respective trophies, “I’ll have a hangover tomorrow, more than you’re going to have.”

Pegula, a native New Yorker whose parents own the NFL’s Buffalo Bills and NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, was participating in a major final for the first time at age 30. She’s won 15 of her past 17 matches over the past month; both losses came against Sabalenka.

“Everyone is like, ‘Congrats! Amazing tournament!’” Pegula said. “I’m like, ‘Eh, whatever.’”

To Pegula’s credit, she did not fold after Sabalenka reeled off five consecutive games to grab the opening set and move ahead 3-0 in the second. In the next game, Pegula dropped a point and showed her frustration by whacking a ball off the video wall behind the baseline, dislodging a little square panel.

Maybe that released some tension, because suddenly Pegula asserted herself, using her own five-game run to go up 5-3. But when she served at 5-4 with a chance to force a third set, Pegula let Sabalenka break.

“She played some big tennis in big moments,” Pegula said.

Sabalenka is as demonstrative as anyone, her body language usually a spot-on barometer of whether things are going well. But as she sputtered at the start Saturday, it was tough to read what she was thinking against Pegula, who eliminated Swiatek in the quarterfinals.

Even while down an early break, Sabalenka reacted to mistakes by calmly turning her back and breathing deeply as star athletes from other sports such as Stephen Curry, Lewis Hamilton and Noah Lyles looked on from the stands.

Once Sabalenka calibrated her booming strokes — her forehands were the fastest of the past two weeks, speedier than any woman’s or man’s — it was apparent the outcome would be determined by her.

By the close, the statistics made that obvious: Sabalenka finished with far more winners than Pegula, 40-17, and also more unforced errors, 34-22. Sabalenka controlled most exchanges, but also sprinkled in the occasional drop shot or deft volley.

“I was happy I was able to fight back and give myself a chance,” Pegula said, “but in the end, it wasn’t enough.”

There was one moment of clear anger from Sabalenka. It came at 5-all in the first set, when she double-faulted to face a break point, then leaned forward and cracked her racket against the court four times.

Seemed to work. She saved that break point, wound up taking that game, then broke Pegula to own the opening set.

A year ago, Sabalenka blew that sort of lead against Gauff. The year before, Sabalenka did the same against Swiatek.

Didn’t let it happen again.

“In that second set, honestly, I was just praying there,” said Sabalenka, who collected a $3.6 million winner’s check. “I was literally standing there and praying.”