By Maria Tsvetkova and Amy Tennery
NEW YORK (Reuters) -World number one Aryna Sabalenka will brace herself for a partisan crowd in the U.S. Open final for a third year in a row on Saturday, as she stands across the net from American Amanda Anisimova in the final match of her title defence.
Sabalenka recovered from a set down to get past American fourth seed Jessica Pegula in Thursday’s semi-final, as she bids to become the first woman to win back-to-back U.S. Open titles since Serena Williams in 2013 and 2014.
She take the court on Saturday with fans squarely in her opponent’s favour, after eighth seed Anisimova downed four-time major winner Naomi Osaka in another three-set thriller.
“I played a lot of matches against American women in America and probably learned how to deal with it with experience,” Sabalenka said on Thursday.
The home crowd reached a fever pitch in the 2023 final as local favourite Coco Gauff battled past Sabalenka, with the Belarusian later jokingly calling out fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium for their lack of support.
After Gauff hoisted the trophy, Sabalenka said that she hoped to play the American in more finals – but with “different results, hopefully.”
A year later, she made a cheeky offer to buy U.S. fans a round of drinks if they cheered for her over American Emma Navarro in the semi-final. After swatter her aside she teased the crowd: “Now you’re cheering for me – wow – it’s a bit late.”
She dished out one more disappointment to the Americans that year, beating Pegula in the final.
“After last season, where I played the semi-final and final against an American, I think I learned to distance myself somehow,” she told reporters.
“I only heard support in my direction and, in fact, I was so focused on my work that I could not allow myself to give in to these emotions and give up the victory just because I was angry at the stadium.”
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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