The Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka defeated the American on Thursday night Emma Navarro in front of his audience in New York and qualified for his second consecutive final of the US Open. The local public had their revenge a while later because Jessica Pegula He ran from behind to the Czech Karolina Muchova and will be the rival of the world number two in the grand final on Saturday.
Sabalenka beat Navarro (12) 6-3 and 7-6 (7-2) in the first women’s semifinal of the tournament, the last Grand Slam of the season. Pegula (6), on the other hand, showed a show of resilience and beat Muchova 1-6, 6-4 and 6-2 at the close of the day on the New York cement.
After the victory, Sabalenka reproached the 20,000 spectators on center court, who last year had already strongly cheered on her executioner in the final, Coco Gauff. “Now they are applauding me. Wow. It’s a little late,” the Belarusian said.
Challenged in a fierce second set by Navarro, the great revelation of the tournament, Sabalenka was able to chase away the ghosts of the defeat against Gauff, in which she let a set advantage slip away.
The American, hija of the tycoon Ben Navarrohad a 5-6 lead in the second set and another 0-2 lead in the tiebreak before Sabalenka imposed her huge forehand and prevented her from adding a single more point.
“What I thought was, ‘Not this time,'” Sabalenka said of her reaction to Navarro’s comeback. “I got a little emotional and had this little ‘flashback’ to last year’s final, because of the atmosphere in the crowd. I’m very happy with the lessons learned.”
On his side, Navarro, 23, will enter the top-10 for the first time thanks to a dream tournament in his native New York in which he dethroned Coco Gauff in the round of 16.
In her first Grand Slam final, Navarro’s main weapons, speed and neatness in all kinds of shots, were insufficient against the intractable Sabalenka. Twelve centimeters taller, the Belarusian commanded with her enormous forehand (34 winners to Navarro’s 13), preventing Navarro from extending the exchanges.
“It was an incredible experience playing in (Arthur Center Court) Ashe against an opponent like her,” Navarro said. And he acknowledged: “Obviously it is disappointing not to have been able to win today, when it seemed that I had sunk my teeth at the end of the second set and felt that I could take it to the third. But I couldn’t achieve it, she played very well in the last moment,” he acknowledged. .
Great specialist on hard courts like those in New York, Sabalenka was confirmed as the great favorite to lift her first US Open trophywhich would add to his two Grand Slam titles achieved at the Australian Open (2023 and 2024).
The match opened the semifinal round of a US Open that revived the hopes of the host country. The United States is guaranteed its first men’s finalist since 2006, emerging from Friday’s semifinal between Taylor Fritz and Frances, Tiafoe. The New York public also dreamed of Navarro and Pegula starring in the first all-American women’s final since 2017.
But only Pegula will be thereworld number six, who recovered from a bad start to the match against Muchova and earned her ticket to a Grand Slam tournament final for the first time after a 2h12 battle.
The Czech, recovered from a long wrist injury, had been showing the brilliant tennis with which she had already reached the semifinals last year. But Pegula, who on Wednesday caused one of the surprises of the tournament by eliminating the world number one, Iga Swiatek, had variants and energy to carry the match forward.
Daughter of the tycoon Terry Pegulaowner of the Buffalo Bills of the NFL, the player thus broke her curse of the Grand Slam quarterfinals, in which she had crashed six times.