US Open: Aryna Sabalenka beats Emma Navarro to reach her second consecutive final

New York: Aryna Sabalenka moved into her second consecutive U.S. Open final by taking the last seven points and beating Emma Navarro 6-3, 7-6 (2) on Thursday night with her usual brand of high-risk, high-reward tennis. The No. 2-seeded Sabalenka, a 26-year-old from Belarus who won each of the past two Australian Opens , came up a victory short of claiming the championship at Flushing Meadows a year ago, when she lost to Coco Gauff in front of a loud partisan crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

This time, Sabalenka got past another American opponent, the 13th-seeded Navarro — and never let the spectators play too much of a role until things got quite tight in the second set. Knowing she would be facing a player from the U.S. in this semifinal, Sabalenka joked after her previous match she would try to sway them to her side by buying booze, saying, “ Drinks on me tonight? ”

Navarro did not fold in the second set, despite trailing for much of it, and as the noise from the seats grew louder, she broke when Sabalenka served for the victory at 5-4. But in the tiebreaker that followed, after Navarro led 2-0, Sabalenka took over, grabbing every point that remained. “I



was like, ‘OK, Aryna, you have to stay focused. Stay in your thoughts. Focus on yourself,’” Sabalenka said. “And, yeah, I was thinking a lot.”

Sabalenka will play for the trophy on Saturday against yet another American, No. 6 Jessica Pegula, or unseeded Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic. The Pegula-Muchova semifinal was scheduled for later Thursday under the Ashe lights on a cool evening with only the slightest breeze. “I’m ready to face whoever,” Sabalenka said. “Lesson from last year learned. I really hope I'm going to do a little bit better than I did last year.”

Sabalenka also showed she is not simply a swing-from-the-heels power player, even if that is the foundation of her game. She delivered one optimally timed return winner to help break for a 4-2 lead early. She offered up two terrifically delicate drop shots to earn points later in that set. When Navarro failed to get a return in play off a 100 mph serve, Sabalenka was halfway to the win. A break to go up 3-2 seemingly put Sabalenka in charge of the second set, too, but Navarro made a stand. In the end, it wasn't enough.