Anisimova and Sabalenka last met two months ago at SW19, where the 24-year-old New Jersey native scored the biggest win of her career in the semifinals. For Sabalenka, it was a third straight defeat in the late stages of a major tournament, having finished runner-up at both the Australian Open and Roland Garros earlier this season.
She arrived to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center three weeks ago under pressure to end her season with a Grand Slam trophy and set to work against a tricky field, reaching the quarterfinals without dropping a set. Following a quarterfinal walkover from an injured Marketa Vondrousova, she put on a serving clinic in the semifinals, outlasting No. 4 seed Jessica Pegula in a rematch of the 2024 final, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Anisimova was under her own kind of pressure in New York, eager to erase the double-bagel defeat she endured to end her All England Club campaign. Playing her first major tournament as a Top 8 seed, she shook off a third-round challenge from Jaqueline Cristian to score the ultimate revenge on No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek, blitzing her Wimbledon conqueror, 6-4, 6-3.
