No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka clinched a spot in her second straight US Open final with a gritty 6-3, 7-6(2) victory over No.13 seed Emma Navarro in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Thursday night.
Former World No.1 Sabalenka, who finished runner-up to Coco Gauff at last year’s US Open, needed 90 minutes to fend off surging American Navarro, who was contesting her first Grand Slam semifinal and pushed the second set into a tiebreak from 5-3 down.
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“I worked really hard on my mindset on the match,” Sabalenka said afterwards. “I think I made really huge improvement on that calmness, on that crucial moments.
“Even if things are not working well for me, I still keep doing right things and I’m staying in control. I’m really proud, I’m actually really proud of myself that I was able to get to the point when I’m in control of my emotions.”
Sabalenka will face another American in this year’s final: No.6 seed Jessica Pegula.
Sabalenka leads the head-to-head 5-2 and is the only person to beat Pegula during this summer’s North American hard-court swing, in the Cincinnati final.
Sabalenka has reached all four hard-court Grand Slam finals during the last two seasons.
Sabalenka moves one win away from becoming the first woman to win both hard-court Grand Slam titles in the same year since Angelique Kerber won the Australian Open and US Open in 2016. Sabalenka won her second straight Australian Open title earlier this year.
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