“I was thinking, if I lose this semifinal, I’ll be struggling with sleeping”- Aryna Sabalenka on avoiding hat-trick of SF exits to reach US Open final
After reaching the 2023 US Open final, Aryna Sabalenka said she was worried about how she would cope if she lost her third consecutive semifinal in New York. Sabalenka was knocked out of the last-four stage at Flushing Meadows in 2021 and 2022.
Not only would she have made a hat-trick of US Open semifinal losses, but also a hat-trick of Grand Slam semifinal losses, as the Belarusian lost both the French Open and Wimbledon semifinals this year.
Aryna Sabalenka emerged victorious over 17th seed Madison Keys 0-6, 7-6(1), 7-6(5) in a thriller to seal a spot in the final. After being served a bagel in the first set, the reigning Australian Open champion staged a valiant comeback to pull off both successive sets, both of which went into tiebreaks.
The second-ranked player's performance at the Arthur Ashe Stadium on Thursday, September 7, is a testament to her skills, grit, and determination.
Aryna Sabalenka will square off against sixth seed Coco Gauff, who defeated Karolina Muchova 6-4, 7-5 in quite a dramatic last-four showdown on Thursday. The World No. 2, who will officially take the top spot in the WTA rankings after the tournament, will be fighting to claim her second Grand Slam title of the year as well as her career.
Speaking at a post-match press conference, Sabalenka suggested that had she lost the semifinal, she would have struggled to cope for days to come.
“Honestly, I was thinking that if I'm going to lose this semifinal, I'll be struggling with sleeping for I don't know how many days, and I was just, like, I don't want this to happen. I need some sleep, and I need to be fine, you know, (smiling),” she said.
The 25-year-old added that throughout the match, she kept pushing herself with a belief that she can turn things around.
“I was just, like, 'Come on, keep trying, keep pushing, like, I don't know, do something extra. Just try to turn around this match'. I think this kind of thinking really helped me to stay in the game and to keep trying, keep pushing, to still have this belief that I have a chance to turn around this match,” Sabalenka added.
Aryna Sabalenka will take on Coco Gauff in 2023 US Open final
Aryna Sabalenka is set to face young gun Coco Gauff for the 2023 US Open women's singles crown on Saturday, September 9.
Gauff is knocking on the door of her maiden Grand Slam title on her own turf, following a hard-fought two-hour battle against Karolina Muchova in the semifinals. This will be her second appearance in a Major final, the first being the 2022 French Open, where she lost to Iga Swiatek.
In the five tour-level meetings so far, Coco Gauff leads 3-2 head-to-head against Aryna Sabalenka. However, in their most recent showdown at Indian Wells earlier this year, Sabalenka came out on top against the American in the quarterfinals.