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Aryna Sabalenka speaks out after again beating Jessica Pegula
Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus celebrates her victory over Jessica Pegula of the United States in the semifinal of the women’s singles at the U.S. Open at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Mike Frey-Imagn Images

Jessica Pegula made her opponent sweat a little more this time, but the result was the same at the U.S. Open on Thursday -- an Aryna Sabalenka win.

The top-seeded Sabalenka defeated fourth-seeded Pegula 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the semifinals in New York, advancing to the event's final for the second straight year. The Belarussian beat Pegula 7-5, 7-5 in last year's Open final.

Sabalenka will face the winner of the second Thursday semifinal between No. 23 Naomi Osaka and No. 8 Amanda Anisimova of the United States.

Pegula certainly made Sabalenka work on Thursday, breaking the world's top-ranked player twice after falling behind 4-2 to take the first set. Pegula's first service game proved to be her undoing in the other two sets.

Sabalenka broke the 31-year-old American on Pegula's first service game in the second and held serve the rest of the way. She did it again in the third set, but not before Pegula forced four break points in the set and then three deuces in the deciding game.

"(Pegula) played incredible tennis as always, and I had to work really hard to get this win," Sabalenka said. "She's such a great player, great fighter, it's always a tough match. I'm just super happy to be in the finals again and hope I can go all the way again. ..."

The 27-year-old Sabalenka, a three-time Grand Slam champion, served up eight aces to Pegula's three, and saved 5 of 7 break points faced to Pegula's 4 of 7 saved. Sabalenka tallied 43 winners to 21 for her opponent, but also committed 12 more unforced errors (27 to 15).

The rest of the match was very even, statistically. So even, each player won 87 of the 174 total points.

Sabalenka said of the final, "I will go out there on Saturday and fight for every point like the last point of my life."

This article first appeared on Field Level Media and was syndicated with permission.

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