The women’s singles final at the US Open this time is so trickily poised that it would be an absolute risk to predict the winner.
Top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka will face the challenge of eighth-seeded Amanda Anisimova to decide the winner of the women’s crown in the year’s last slam.
Why is it trickly posied? Because the advantages are distributed in an intriguing manner. Sabalenka, the world No. 1, is the defending champion. But is she the outright favourite? No, how can she be when Anisimova enjoys a massive 6-3 head-to-head record against her top-ranked opponent?
Not just that, when the two last met, in the Wimbledon semi-finals about two months ago, Anisimova came out with a three-set victory.
It is another story that American Anisimova was mauled 6-0, 6-0 by Iga Swiatek in the Wimbledon final. That fact, though, might give Sabalenka an edge — can Anisimova
handle the nerves of a grand slam final?
The way she has progressed to the final, one would like to believe that Anisimova has pumped in enough gas in her cylinders to last the final onslaught. She first took revenge by ousting Swiatek from the quarter-finals, and on Thursday, she rallied from a set down to defeat four-time grand slam champion Naomi Osaka 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3), 6-3.
The semi-final hurdle wasn’t easy for Sabalenka either. She too came through a thriller, beating home hope Jessica Pegula 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Anisimova, 24, was overwhelmed after getting the ticket to final. “Oh my God. It means the world,” she said. “I’m trying to process that right now. It’s absolutely
a dream come true. This
has been a dream of mine like forever to be in the US Open final and the hope is to be
the champion.”
All in the mind
The way things stand, it seems it will be all about belief on Saturday when the final is contested on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court.
Anisimova knows the importance of having control on the mental aspect of the game. In the deciding set of the semi-final against Osaka, Anisimova powered ahead 4-1 and held her nerve from there to secure the victory.
“It just shows that I’ve worked really hard, especially on my mental game and not giving up,” Anisimova said.
“Like today, I could have easily said, ‘Oh she’s playing better than me, and I can’t really do anything’. I really tried to find a way, even though it was extremely tough, and she was playing great tennis.
“I’ve really worked on myself to really be able to handle those moments and to believe in myself ... and especially since the Wimbledon final. I’ve shifted with my attitude, as well.”
Sabalenka, too, realises that she needs to step onto the court with belief, something she thinks she lacked in the Wimbledon loss to Anisimova. About that Wimbledon setback, Sabalenka said: “I felt like in that match at Wimby, I was doubting a lot my decisions... I feel like the key for me is going to be just go out there, obviously fight, but trust my decisions and go after my shots.”
Belarusian Sabalenka, who is bidding to win her first major this season after defeats in the Australian and French Open finals, is focused on her goal. “I badly wanted to give myself another opportunity, another final, and I want to prove to myself that I learned those tough lessons and I can do better in finals.”
Who has the edge?
To Sabalenka’s advantage, she has the numbers on her back to give her an advantage even before the crunch match against Anisimova begins.
This will be Sabalenka’s seventh grand slam final, and also the third consecutive US Open final. She won at the Flushing Meadows last year. She has simply been there and done that.
Add to that her fierce shot-making abilities, something Pegula, who had also lost to her in last year’s final, realised once again. “She came up with some ridiculous shots on breakpoint,” Pegula said later.
Against Pegula, Sabalenka hit 43 winners, against 16 unforced errors, had eight
aces to flaunt, and, most importantly, saved five of seven break points.
But Anisimova will be no pushover. She has now reached back-to-back grand slam finals, and failure last time might have made
her wiser and deadlier for a fresh onslaught.
She has been encashing second serves well. Against Osaka, she won 28 of 42 return points on seconds, and six of them were winners. “I’m trying to be aggressive,” Anisimova said. “That’s always been a strength of mine.”
American again
One thing that might play tricks in Sabalenka’s head is the fact that she will be facing an American in the US Open final for the third time in a row.
That means she will need to stand up against a partisan crowd once again. But Sabalenka doesn’t care. “I played a lot of matches against American women in America and probably learned how to deal with it with experience.”
It’s all in the mind, really.
With inputs from Reuters