Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka outplayed American sixth seed Jessica Pegula 7-5, 7-5 in the final to win her US Open title in New York on Saturday.
Sabalenka claimed her third Grand Slam title after winning the Australian Open twice.
Factbox on Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka:
Age: 26
Nation: Belarus
WTA Ranking: 2
Seeding: 2
Grand Slam titles: 3 (Australian Open 2023, 2024, US Open 2024)
ROAD TO FINAL
First round: beat Priscilla Hon (Australia) 6-3, 6-3
Second round: beat Lucia Bronzetti (Italy) 6-3, 6-1
Third round: beat 29-Ekaterina Alexandrova (Russia) 2-6, 6-1, 6-2
Fourth round: beat 33-Elise Mertens (Belgium) 6-2, 6-4
Quarter-finals: beat 7-Zheng Qinwen (China) 6-1, 6-2
Semi-finals: beat 13-Emma Navarro (US) 6-3, 7-6(2)
EARLY LIFE
* Born in Minsk. Began playing tennis at age six.
CAREER TO DATE
* Began her professional career playing on the ITF Circuit in 2012.
* Won three singles titles and one doubles title on ITF Circuit in 2015.
* Played first WTA qualifying event at Rabat in 2016 and played in her first WTA main draw at Dubai the following year. Ended 2017 ranked number 78 for first top-100 finish.
* Won two WTA titles at New Haven and Wuhan in 2018. First Top-20 season finishing ranked 11th.
* Won three WTA singles titles and three doubles titles in 2019, including first Grand Slam doubles title at the US Open with Belgian partner Elise Mertens.
* Won Doha, Ostrava and Linz titles for a joint Tour-leading record in 2020. Climbed one place in the rankings for her first Top-10 season.
* Won Abu Dhabi and Madrid in 2021 and reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon and the US Open.
* Reached the 2022 US Open semi-finals. Qualified for the WTA Finals for the second consecutive year where she defeated the top three players in the tournament -- Jessica Pegula, Ons Jabeur and Iga Swiatek -- and finished runner-up losing to Caroline Garcia.
* Won the Australian Open beating Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan) and reached Wimbledon and French Open semi-finals and finished runner-up at the US Open in 2023. Also won titles in Adelaide and Madrid.
* Reached a career-high ranking of number one in September 2023.
* Won the Australian Open for the second consecutive year in January 2024 beating Zheng Qinwen and reached the quarter-finals of French Open before missing Wimbledon and the Paris Olympics with a shoulder injury.
* Won the 2024 US Open by beating sixth seed Jessica Pegula.
