Aryna Sabalenka won the US Open and her third Grand Slam crown, superseding a brave fight from Jessica Pegula in a rollercoaster final on Saturday.

World number two Sabalenka triumphed 7-5, 7-5 to add the New York title to her back-to-back Australian Open victories.

Pegula went down fighting with a brilliant recovery from 0-3 and break point down to lead 5-3 in the second set before Sabalenka came through.

The 26-year-old from Belarus clubbed 40 winners to become the first woman since Angelique Kerber in 2016 to capture both hard-court majors in the same season.

“I am speechless. So many times I was close to the US Open title and finally I got it,” said Sabalenka, the runner-up last year and semi-finalist in 2022 and 2023. Never give up on your dream. Work hard. I am super proud of myself.”

She had won 15 out of 16 matches on the North American summer hard court swing.

 “She is super powerful and is not going to give you anything. She can take the racquet out of your hand. I am just glad I was able to stay in there and keep taking opportunities,” stated Pegula

A capacity crowd of 23,000 included sporting royalty such as Olympic 100m gold medalist Noah Lyles, NBA star Steph Curry and former Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton.