Defending champ Sabalenka will face Anisimova in U.S. Open women's final

On Aryna Sabalenka's first chance to end her U.S. Open semifinal against Jessica Pegula and earn the chance to play for a second consecutive trophy at Flushing Meadows, the defending champion dumped what should have been an easy overhead into the net, then stared at the ground.

On Sabalenka's second chance, she missed a clumsy volley — and later acknowledged she shouldn't have ventured forward, because she went just 15 for 27 when up at the net. Uh, oh.

So good at important moments in the high-stakes, high-tension final set, Sabalenka held it together there and held on, converting her third match point Thursday night for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Pegula in a rematch of last year's final.

"I was super emotional. I was just like, 'Oh, my gosh, no way it's happening. Please, just close this match,'" Sabalenka explained afterward. "The whole match, I just keep telling myself: '[Onto] the next one, just one step at a time, don't worry about the past. Just try better in the next point.'"

When it was over, Sabalenka rocked back on her heels, spread her arms and screamed.

On Saturday, when she faces No. 8 Amanda Anisimova in the final, the No. 1-seeded Sabalenka will be trying to become the first woman to claim consecutive championships at Flushing Meadows since Serena Williams got three in a row from 2012 to 2014.

Anisimova eliminated No. 23 Naomi Osaka 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3), 6-3 in a match that ended at nearly 1 a.m. to reach her second straight major final. At Wimbledon in July, Anisimova was the runner-up to Iga Swiatek, who beat her 6-0, 6-0 in the title match.

But Anisimova recovered from that well enough, and quickly enough, to get past Swiatek in two sets in the U.S. Open quarterfinals.

Now Anisimova, a 24-year-old who was