The 2024 United States Open grand slam tennis tournament continues on Saturday with the women’s individual singles final. The finalists are two players seeded in the top six as Aryna Sabalenka of Minsk, Belarus is seeded second and American Jessica Pegula of Buffalo, New York is seeded sixth. In the semifinals on Thursday, Sabalenka defeated the 13th seed, American Emma Navarro of New York, New York 6-3, 7-6, and Pegula defeated Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic 1-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Seven times in the past Sabalenka has faced Pegula. Sabalenka was victorious five times. Let’s take a closer look at the previous seven matches of the 2024 US Open finalists.
2020 Western & Southern Open
This tournament is normally in Cincinnati, but was in New York this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Pegula, who was a qualifier, defeated Sabalenka, the fifth seed, in the third round, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3. Pegula then lost in the quarterfinals to Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-1, 6-3.
2020 French Open
The 2020 French Open took place in late September/early October because of coronavirus. In the first round, Sabalenka easily beat Pegula 6-3, 6-1. Sabalenka broke Pegula six times.
2021 Madrid Open
In their second straight meeting on clay, Sabalenka won in the third round quite easily in Spain, 6-1, 6-2. Sabalenka had eight aces compared to two for Pegula, and broke Pegula four times. Sabalenka ended up winning the Madrid Open. In the final, Sabalenka beat Ashleigh Barty of Australia 6-0, 3-6, 6-4.
2022 Italian Open
Sabalenka beat Pegula 6-1, 6-4 in the third round of the 2022 Italian Open. As the third seed, Pegula only needed 17 games to be victorious. Sabalenka reached the semifinals, but lost 6-2, 6-1 to Iga Swiatek of Poland.
2022 WTA Finals
In the 2022 WTA Finals at Fort Worth, Texas, Sabalenka, the seventh seed, beat Pegula, the third seed, 6-3, 7-5 in the round robin portion of the Nancy Richey Group. Sabalenka went on to reach the final before losing 7-6, 6-4 to Caroline Garcia of France.
2023 WTA Finals
In the 2023 WTA Finals at Cancun, Mexico, Pegula got revenge, as she defeated Sabalenka 6-4, 6-3 in the round robin portion of the Bacalar Group. Pegula was the fifth seed and Sabalenka was the first seed. Pegula went on to the final, before losing 6-1, 6-0 to Swiatek.
2024 Cincinnati Open
In the only prior time Sabalenka and Pegula faced each other in a final, Sabalenka beat Pegula 6-3, 7-5. Sabalenka’s performance against Pegula last month makes her the favourite on Saturday at Flushing Meadows.
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