With her 7-5, 7-5 victory over Jessica Pegula in the final of the US Open on Saturday, Aryna Sabalenka not only captured her third Grand Slam title, she also added her name to a very exclusive list.
She’s the eighth woman in the Open Era to win the Australian Open and the US Open in the same year, and just the fifth woman to do it since both majors have been held on hard courts.
The US Open switched from clay to hard courts in 1978, while the Australian Open switched from grass to hard courts in 1988.
Sabalenka is just the second woman in the last 27 years to achieve the feat, joining Angelique Kerber, who won them both in 2016.
WOMEN TO WIN AUSTRALIAN OPEN AND US OPEN IN SAME YEAR IN OPEN ERA (players to do it when both on hard courts bolded):
Margaret Court [1969, 1970, 1973]
Chris Evert [1982]
Martina Navratilova [1983]
Steffi Graf [1988, 1989]
Monica Seles [1991, 1992]
Martina Hingis [1997]
Angelique Kerber [2016]
Aryna Sabalenka [2024]
More to come…
