As the second of two gruelling, topsy-turvy semifinals was dragged from Thursday night to Friday morning in New York, one thing became clear: the US Open final will be a redemption story one way or another.
More than five hours of compelling, high-wire tennis in the semifinals set up a title showdown between two of the game’s fiercest ball-strikers who are trying to make statements of their own. Top seed and defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, into her third successive final in Flushing Meadows, will take on eighth-seeded American Amanda Anisimova, into her second successive Major final.
In a repeat of last year’s championship match, Sabalenka came back from a set down to roll past American fourth seed Jessica Pegula 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, starting tentatively but coming up clutch in the important moments. Anisimova, on the other hand, got past a resurgent Naomi Osaka 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3), 6-3 in a three-hour-long blockbuster that saw 82 winners (50 of which came off Anisimova’s racket) and what felt like as many twists and turns. Anisimova recovered from a tense first-set tiebreak and nearly lost the plot when she failed to serve out the second set before finding her attacking best in the resultant tiebreaker and never looking back.
Aryna Sabalenka will look to repeat.
Amanda Anisimova will look to win her home Grand Slam.
Here we go. pic.twitter.com/h6UHPrZ7gJ
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 5, 2025
The American was not merely content to have gained revenge for the worst humiliation of her life — when she lost the final at Wimbledon 0-6, 0-6 against Iga Swiatek — by defeating the Pole in straight sets in the quarterfinal. The turnaround was phenomenally impressive for its showing of mental resilience alone, but there’s more to the American’s game; the glory that eluded her in London is still on her mind.
“It means the world to me,” she said after the victory. “This had been a dream of mine to become (a Grand Slam) champion.”
Sabalenka’s proving a point too. The Belarusian has by far been the most consistent player in the world for the last two years, but recent tough defeats have taken their toll. This is her third Major final of the year, and at Wimbledon, she reached the semifinal (where she lost to Anisimova). But she has still returned empty-handed from Grand Slams in 2025; the manner of her defeats, each from winnable positions, had reasonably raised questions about possible mental fatigue.
Not on Thursday. Her comeback showed that there remains plenty of fight burning inside. “If I’ll be able to hold that trophy, it’s going to mean a lot for me. I’ll be just the happiest person on earth probably,” she said after reaching the final.
Similar playing styles
And where will Saturday’s final be won and lost between two players that are equally lethal from the baseline?
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For Sabalenka, lessons from Thursday’s match were relatively straightforward. In the first set, her serve was simply too wayward, and there were too many errors in trying to end points early against an elite defender like Pegula. When she tightened up her game, the confidence from the baseline returned, and so did the bombs from her serve, often buying her way out of trouble with it. From then on, her all-power baseline game took over.
This element of rushing has hurt Sabalenka in the past, in the French Open final against Coco Gauff as well as against Anisimova at Wimbledon, matches she lost in a deciding set. And she will have to lock in from the start given the form of her opponent.
When the ball comes comfortably into her strike zone, Anisimova’s groundstrokes have a pure, destructive quality to them. Perhaps it’s a less mobile but fiercer version of the refined baseline play Jannik Sinner uses to dominate on the men’s tour. The problems start for her when she is moved out of that zone, as Swiatek did to such devastating effect using her spinning forehand in July.
The American has very quickly learned lessons. In New York, she has been quick on the uptake in moving out of the corners in those long, grinding, side-to-side baseline exchanges. The defence has improved, as has her rally tolerance. But it remains a sticking point.
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That may well be the decider in this clash of similar playing styles. Sabalenka may boast a lot of power but she has been experimenting with drop shots and slices too lately, and may well look to move Anisimova side-to-side and test her patience. But if the American finds her hitting form from the start, she will begin unloading the full force of her groundstrokes to overwhelm her opponent (she was hitting the ball sensationally well in the first set of their Wimbledon semifinal last month). That may give Sabalenka too much to work her way back into the match.
Either way, with what’s happened before and what’s on the line now, this will be a mental grind as much as it will be a physical one.
