A disappointed Aryna Sabalenka has vowed to come back stronger after missing out on her third consecutive title at the US Open.
The world No.1 was downed in three sets by Elena Rybakina, who will overtake her in the rankings on Monday. Throughout the final, Sabalenka was under pressure and let out outbursts of frustration on multiple occasions. During the first set, she fired a ball into the crowd, which resulted in her receiving a code violation.
“I’m obviously not really happy with the level I played, but she served incredibly,” Sabaleka said of her loss.
“She played really aggressively, great tennis. She was simply a better player than me.”
The Belarusian was bidding to follow in the footsteps of Chris Evert and Serena Williams by becoming only the third woman in the Open Era to win a third consecutive title at Flushing Meadows. She was also a win away from becoming the fourth woman to win a major title in three consecutive seasons since 2000.
It isn’t all doom and gloom for the 28-year-old, who entered this year’s US Open with mixed results on the Tour. In her three previous tournaments, she had failed to reach the quarter-finals at all of them.
“I think overall I should be happy with the level I played, and there’s lots of things to take from this tournament,” she reflected.
“As experience shows, I only come back stronger and all of these lessons this season definitely already made me stronger, but definitely going to motivate me for the next year to do a better job.”
Sabalenka still leads Rybakina 10-8 in their head-to-head, but since the start of 2025 she has won only three of their seven meetings.
“We have a great rivalry. We played a lot of great matches this season,” she said.
“Her serve is amazing, the way she is able to step in and overpower you on court, especially if it’s a US Open court where it’s super fast, is definitely a huge advantage for her.
“A lot of things make her dangerous.”
Sabalenka currently has a win-loss record of 46-9 this season.
