Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus defeats American Jessica Pegula in US Open final to build on father's dream

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American tennis player Jessica Pegula lost the women's singles final at the U.S. Open on Saturday to Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka. Sabalenka won in two sets, both times by a score of 7-5. 

Pegula, as she had all tournament, fought back after falling behind. Sabalenka won the first set then took a 3-0 lead in the second, but Pegula took the next five subsets. Sabalenka won the next four to close out the match.

Sabalenka had won 11 straight matches and 22 of her last 23 sets going into the match. The 26-year-old from Belarus claimed her third Grand Slam title after winning the last two Australian Opens. 

Pegula had won 15 of her past 16 matches, all on hard courts like those used at Flushing Meadows. The lone loss in that span came against Sabalenka in the final of the Cincinnati Open last month. After a surprising run to the final, Pegula lost to Sabalenka again on the material. 

Pegula is a 30-year-old from New York and the No. 6 seed, and she was appearing in the first Grand Slam final of her career. She had been 0-6 in major quarterfinals until eliminating No. 1 Iga Swiatek in that round on Wednesday.

The two players came from very different backgrounds and tennis upbringings.

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Aryna Sabalenka reacts after a miss during the women's singles final of the 2024 U.S. Open. (Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images)

Pegula is upstate New York royalty. Her parents, Terry and Kim Pegula, own the NFL's Buffalo Bills and the NHL's Buffalo Sabres. The family has a net worth of over $7.5 billion.

In September 2021, Jessica Pegula appeared alongside her mom on the Bills Pod Squad podcast, where she credited