Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka defeated American eighth seed Amanda Anisimova 6-3 7-6(3) in the U.S. Open women’s final on Saturday.
Top seed Sabalenka successfully defended her title to take her Grand Slam tally to four.
The battle between two of tennis’ hardest-hitting, biggest-serving women boiled down to unforced errors as Sabalenka kept them to 15 compared to 29 from the racket of her opponent.
Playing in only her second major final, New Jersey-born Anisimova had the partisan fans at the famed Arthur Ashe Stadium on her side but could never hang onto the momentum.
Sabalenka had ice in her veins with just four unforced errors in the first set, converting all three break points she set up as she drowned out the noise from the home crowd.
Sabalenka was up a break in the second set but could not close it out as she gave Anisimova a break point chance with a fluffed smash in the 10th game and the American converted.
But the tiger-tattooed Belarusian dug in her claws in the tiebreak, wrapping up the match with an unreturnable serve as Anisimova was left in tears yet again after the heartbreak of her 6-0 6-0 drubbing in the Wimbledon final two months ago.