Queen of Queens: Aryna Sabalenka continues to dominate U.S. Open

Aryna Sabalenka may have been born in Minsk, Belarus, but she certainly feels at home in New York.

With a dominant 7-5, 6-2 semifinal victory over Jessica Pegula, Sabalenka reached her fourth straight U.S. Open final Thursday. She's poised to become only the third woman in history to win three straight U.S. Open titles in Saturday's final.

Aryna Sabalenka plays her best at U.S. Open

Sabalenka has won four major titles, two at the U.S. Open and two in Australia. But it's at Flushing Meadows in Queens where Sabalenka has delivered her finest performances.

In 2024, Sabalenka dropped only a single set on her way to the title. She repeated the feat last year, losing a set in the semifinal to Pegula, who she also defeated in the 2024 final. She lost to Coco Gauff in the 2023 final, but lost only a single set leading up to that match.

Before reaching four straight finals, Sabalenka made the semifinals in both 2021 and 2022, winning every set in 2021 before losing to Leylah Fernandez and falling to then-No. 1 Iga Swiatek the following year. She's clearly at her best on hard courts rather than grass or clay, but she's rarely better than she is in Flushing Meadows.

Aryna Sabalenka dominates Americans at the U.S. Open

Not only is Sabalenka dominating in America's lone Grand Slam tournament, she's doing at the expense of American players. Thursday was the third straight year Pegula has fallen to Sabalenka at Flushing Meadows. She defeated rival Amanda Anisimova in the 2025 final, beat American Emma Navarro in the 2024 semifinal and beat Madison Keys in the 2023 semi.

It's especially impressive dominating like this in front of a partisan crowd that tends to cheer hard for Americans. Sabalenka seemed rattled during her three-set loss to Gauff in 2023, but the always-emotional player hasn't been shaken by not having crowd support in the three tournaments since.

And if she can pull off the three-peat, there will be plenty of ovations for Sabalenka Saturday.