World number one Aryna Sabalenka has apologised to her team for her “terrible” behaviour during a tough season after clinching her fourth major singles title with a straight-sets win over Amanda Anisimova in the US Open final.
The 27-year-old defending champion went in as favourite for the final at Flushing Meadows, and she completed the 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) victory over the American in one hour and 34 minutes.
Atoning for shattering losses in this year’s Australian Open and French Open finals, the Belarusian dominated the American eighth seed for much of the match, only faltering briefly late in the second set on Sunday morning (AEST).
Following her victory, a clearly emotional Sabalenka thanked her team, who had ridden all the highs and lows of a tumultuous 2025 season with her.
“It’s been tough this year,” she said.
“In those finals I was really terrible towards you, but come on, it was worth it, right? Thank you so much. I love you, you’re my family.”
Anisimova had been hoping to bury the demons of a 6-0, 6-0 Wimbledon final defeat seven weeks ago to Iga Świątek.
But while this crushing setback was not so humbling, the outcome was depressingly the same for the 24-year-old, who broke down in tears prior to the trophy presentation.
“Getting to two finals in a row is great, but it’s also hard,” Anisimova said after the match.
“I think I didn’t fight hard enough for my dreams today.”
Sabalenka offered some encouragement for Anisimova in her own speech.
“I know how much it hurts losing in the final, but trust me, you’re going to win your first one,” she said.
“Girl, you’re going to enjoy it even more after these tough losses in finals.”
The much-anticipated title decider between the two biggest hitters in women’s tennis failed to match the hype as Sabalenka cast aside the challenger and sentimental favourite from nearby New Jersey.
Despite conjuring three break points in the opening game, Anisimova was unable to get on the board until 10 minutes into the match.
Anisimova was facing defeat before she put together a run of games to take the second set to a tie-break, but her comeback was ultimately short lived.
The underdog received a rousing reception from the packed crowd after finally holding serve to trail 2-1.
But Sabalenka upped the ante to reel off three straight games from 3-3 to take the first set, then storm to a 3-1 lead in the second.
Anisimova threatened a comeback after fighting back from 5-3 down to force a second-set tiebreaker.
Despite her wobbles trying to close out the championship, Sabalenka held her nerve to win an incredible 19th consecutive breaker this year to prevail on her third match point.
The World Observer Media produces a daily online newspaper, a daily Arabic online newspaper and a monthly printed Arabic/English magazine and a weekly printed Arabic/English newspaper.
The World Observer Media’s mission is to entertain and educate all generation from the Ethnic Communities in Australia, who are interested in local, national and foreign information. 
