Aryna Sabalenka in rarefied air following back-to-back women's U.S. Open titles

Aryna Sabalenka is in elite company.

On Saturday, Sabalenka added a fourth Grand Slam title to her resume in defeating American Amanda Anisimova in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6, in the women's U.S. Open Final. 

Anisimova put up a much better fight than in her last finals appearance at 2025 Wimbledon, when Iga Swiatek easily dispatched her without dropping a game. Anisimova won three of the first five games in Saturday's first set and valiantly forced a second-set tiebreak after breaking Sabalenka's serve down 5-4 in the set.

But the day belonged to Sabalenka, who joined illustrious company with the title.

It was Sabalenka's second consecutive U.S. Open championship, making her the first woman to accomplish the feat since all-time great Serena Williams, who won three consecutive from 2012-14.

In the Open era (1968-present), she's just the 10th woman to win consecutive U.S. Opens, joining a list of tennis royalty that, in addition to Williams, also includes Margaret Court (1969-70), Billie Jean King (1971-72), Chris Evert (1975-78), Martina Navratilova (1983-84, 1986-87), Steffi Graf (1988-89, 1995-96), Monica Seles (1991-92), Venus Williams (2000-01) and Kim Clijsters (2009-10).

With her latest U.S. Open triumph, Sabalenka affirmed her status as the world's best women's tennis player. Sabalenka, 27, is No. 1 in the WTA rankings, and she reached three grand slam finals this year, losing to Madison Keys in three sets at the Australian Open in January and to Coco Gauff in three sets at Roland Garros. 

Sabalenka fell to Anisimova, also in three sets, in the Wimbledon semis, making Saturday's win even sweeter.