Aryna Sabalenka tops Emma Navarro, returns to U.S. Open final

No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus is back in the U.S. Open final after stymieing No. 13 Emma Navarro 6-3, 7-6 (2) in their semifinal showdown Thursday in New York.

Sabalenka had leads of 4-2 and 5-3 in the second set before her upstart American opponent rallied to take a 6-5 advantage. Sabalenka led 40-0 in the 12th game and saw Navarro bring the score to deuce before she won the game and forced a tiebreaker.

There, Navarro won the first two points -- the second on a Sabalenka double faulted. Sabalenka then stormed back, making multiple athletic plays and smashing the match-winning shot behind Navarro.

Both players served exceptionally well in the second set, with Navarro putting 78 percent of her first serves in play and Sabalenka succeeding on 74 percent. But Sabalenka had five of her eight aces in the second set, while Navarro was held to one ace on the night.

Sabalenka had 34 winners with 34 unforced errors; Navarro posted 13 winners and 13 unforced errors.

"(Navarro) is such a great player," Sabalenka said in her on-court interview. "A really tough opponent. I'm really happy to get through this difficult semifinal."

A two-time Australian Open champion (2023, 2024), Sabalenka is vying for a sweep of the hard-court majors this year.

In the 2023 U.S. Open final, Sabalenka lost to another home-country-backed player, Coco Gauff.

She will face either another American, No. 6 seed Jessica Pegula, or unseeded Czech Karolina Muchova in the Saturday final. Pegula and Muchova were set to play later Thursday night.

Looking ahead to this year's final, Sabalenka said, "Lesson from last year (was) learned. I really hope I'm going to do a little bit better than I did last year."

Navarro produced her longest run at a Grand Slam event, guaranteeing she will make her debut in the top 10 of the WTA rankings next week. The 23-year-old, born in New York, was a former NCAA singles champion at Virginia and has had a breakout season on tour.

--Field Level Media