Sabalenka, Pegula set for US Open title amid personal challenges 

Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula are set to face off for the US Open women’s title on Saturday, each driven by their Grand Slam aspirations amidst personal challenges. 

World No. 2 Sabalenka, a two-time Australian Open champion, is aiming for her second consecutive final appearance in New York after finishing as runner-up to Coco Gauff in 2023.

This marks her first Grand Slam final since the passing of her former boyfriend, Konstantin Koltsov, a former NHL star who died by apparent suicide at age 42 in March.

Pegula, 30, is competing in her first major final after defeating top seed Iga Swiatek in the quarter-finals and staging a remarkable comeback to beat Karolina Muchova in the semi-finals.

Aryna Sabalenka, originally from Belarus but residing in Florida, is competing in her first Grand Slam final since the tragic passing of her former boyfriend, Konstantin Koltsov, in March.

Koltsov, a former NHL star, passed away from apparent suicide at the age of 42, casting a shadow over Sabalenka’s emotional journey to the US Open final.

Sabalenka described the death as an “unthinkable tragedy.”

“While we were no longer together, my heart is broken,” she wrote on a social media post.

Five years ago, Sabalenka’s father Sergiy passed away from meningitis at just 43.

It was her father who introduced her to tennis at the age of six when they started hitting balls on empty courts in Minsk.

“I’m just trying to fight because my dad wanted me to be No 1,” she said at the time. “I’m doing it for him.”

She honored her father’s legacy by reaching world number one in September last year, a remarkable season that included her first Grand Slam title in Australia, a runner-up finish in New York, and semi-final appearances at the French Open and Wimbledon.

While Pegula’s background as the daughter of billionaire oil magnates Terry and Kim Pegula, owners of the Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres, often attracts attention, the family’s wealth offered little solace in June 2022 when Kim suffered a cardiac arrest, resulting in brain damage and memory loss.

‘Lived and loved it’

“My mom loved to work. She did everything and our family constantly told her how she needs to slow down and take time for herself,” Pegula wrote in a moving first-person post for Players Tribune in February 2023.

“She gave everyone so much of her time and effort. She lived it and loved it, and it was felt by everyone she met. Now we come to the realisation that all of that is most likely gone. That she won’t be able to be that person anymore.”

Jessica Pegula, having previously been eliminated in six Grand Slam quarter-finals, is set to experience the support of the 24,000-strong crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium as she competes in her first US Open championship match.

Aryna Sabalenka, on the other hand, is prepared for the emotional atmosphere after her semi-final victory over Emma Navarro, where she made subtle remarks about the crowd’s influence.

“Last year it was a very tough experience, a very tough lesson,” said Sabalenka of her 2023 final defeat to Gauff where she let slip a one-set lead.

“Today I was like, No, no, no, Aryna, it’s not going to happen again. You have to control your emotions. You have to focus on yourself.

“There was people supporting for me. I was trying to focus on them.”

Aryna Sabalenka holds a 5-2 head-to-head advantage over Jessica Pegula, having secured a victory in their most recent match at the Cincinnati final last month.

That defeat remains Pegula’s sole loss during the North American hardcourt season, where she has tallied 15 wins in 16 matches.

A win on Saturday would make Sabalenka the first woman since Angelique Kerber in 2016 to claim both hardcourt Grand Slam titles in the same season.

On the other hand, Pegula could become only the third woman in the modern era, following Ann Jones in 1969 and Flavia Pennetta in 2015, to capture her first major title after turning 30.

“If you would have told me at the beginning of the year I’d be in the finals of the US Open, I would have laughed so hard,” admitted Pegula who missed the European claycourt swing with a back injury.