"Sabalenka held down the No. 1 ranking for the whole year so far. She played 14 tournaments and made at least the quarterfinal in 12 of them. She arrived at the finals of the Australian Open and Roland Garros—losing both of those narrowly—and reached the semifinals at Wimbledon. Sabalenka recovered in the semifinal, and swept confidently through the final on Saturday, defeating one of her trickiest matchups, Amanda Anisimova, 6-3, 7-6(3), to defend her U.S. Open title and collect her fourth Slam overall."
"On paper, this final looked like a firefight between the two hardest-hitting players on tour, each clamoring to end the point first with a noisy winner. But reality was a little more restrained. Sabalenka scaled back her usual aggression and seemed content to go slow, hitting the ball with good shape and depth but not flirting with the sidelines, instead daring the No. 8 seeded Anisimova to go bigger."
Aryna Sabalenka entered the U.S. Open having held the No. 1 ranking all year, reaching finals at the Australian Open and Roland Garros and a Wimbledon semifinal after 14 tournaments with 12 quarterfinals or better. She dropped the first set of the U.S. Open semifinal to Jessica Pegula but recovered to reach the final. In the final she defeated Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 7-6(3), defending her U.S. Open title and winning a fourth major. Sabalenka adopted a restrained, depth-focused game plan, reducing winners but forcing Anisimova into errors and neutralizing a previously challenging matchup.
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