ARYNA SABALENKA DEFEATS AMANDA ANISIMOVA FOR HER 2ND CONSECUTIVE US OPEN TITLE

It took another 15 minutes to complete the job, but the No. 1-seeded Sabalenka did reset, unlike at those earlier title matches in 2025, and was able to kneel on Arthur Ashe Stadium's court while...

- BY STAFF WRITER

Aryna Sabalenka was two points away from what eventually would be a second consecutive U.S. Open title when she had what should have been a routine — easy, even — overhead smash. Instead, while backpedalling, she dumped the ball into the net, giving her opponent, Amanda Anisimova, a break chance. After that excruciating miss, Sabalenka dropped her racket on the blue court and smiled ruefully. She began to feel the sort of emotions that got the better of her during losses in the finals at the Australian Open in January and the French Open in June bubble up. She tried to compose herself.

“I just let the doubt get into my head,” Sabalenka explained. “But then I turned around and I took a deep breath in, and I was like, ‘OK. It happens. It’s in the past. Let’s focus on the next one.”

So everything was fine from there? Well, no. “She broke me,” Sabalenka said with a loud laugh. “I was like, ‘OK. ... Reset.”

It took another 15 minutes to complete the job, but the No. 1-seeded Sabalenka did reset, unlike at those earlier title matches in 2025, and was able to kneel on Arthur Ashe Stadium's court while covering her face with her hands after beating Anisimova 6-3, 7-6 (3). That made Sabalenka the first woman to earn the trophy at Flushing Meadows in consecutive years since Serena Williams in 2012-14.