Power was the order of the day for in her semifinal , and the defending champion rolled to a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Jessica Pegula at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York.
Sabalenka is the two-time defending champion at the U.S. Open, but she failed in efforts to add to her major championships in the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon this year. She appeared to have a very tough match on her hands against Pegula, as the two battled on even terms through the first 10 games of the opening set.
However, advantage on her own serve and then used her power and sharp directional returns to break Pegula in the final game of the set.
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Pegula is one of the top players in the world, but she is still looking for her first major championship. After she lost the first set, her shot making dipped a bit in the second set and Sabalenka was able to take advantage of those errors.
In the early stages of the match, Sabalenka appeared to be frustrated whenever she missed a shot and she had multiple emotional reactions where she appeared to be angry at herself. Pegula did not change her expression throughout the set and it appeared her steady reaction would work in her favor.
However, once Sabalenka started to find success on some angled shots out of Pegula’s range, the match turned in her favor.
Sabalenka will try to win her Saturday when she faces the winner of the semifinal between and Elena Rybakina.
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