American Jessica Pegula’s 13-year journey in Grand Slams has led to her first final at the U.S. Open at age 30.
Pegula, the sixth seed, faces No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka in Saturday’s final, bidding to become the second-oldest woman in the modern era to win her first Slam after Italian Flavia Pennetta at the 2015 U.S. Open.
Pegula made her Grand Slam debut at the 2011 U.S. Open at age 17. From 2011 through 2018, she played 14 Slams and lost in qualifying at 12 of them.
She broke into the WTA top 50 as she turned 27 and rocketed to No. 3 in the world the next year. She lost her first six Grand Slam quarterfinals before this run in New York.
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Pegula ousted top seed Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals. If she beats Sabalenka, she will be the first woman to beat the top two seeds en route to a Slam title since Svetlana Kuznetsova at the 2009 French Open (Serena Williams, Dinara Safina).
Sabalenka is 26-1 at the two hard-court Grand Slams since the start of 2023 — winning both Australian Opens and squandering a set lead to Coco Gauff in the 2023 U.S. Open final.
Sabalenka rides an 11-match win streak into the U.S. Open final, a run that included a 6-3, 7-5 win over Pegula on Aug. 19.
2024 U.S. Open Women’s Singles Draw, Bracket
