Sabalenka beats Pegula, closes in on US Open hat-trick: 'Unstoppable level'

Aryna Sabalenka's dominance at the US Open showed no sign of weakening on Thursday night as the two-time defending champion swept past Jessica Pegula 7-5, 6-2 to move within one win of a third straight title. The top-seeded Belarusian finished with 29 winners to Pegula's 12, her relentless aggression turning a tightly contested opening set into a one-sided affair. It was her 19th consecutive victory at Flushing Meadows. Pegula admitted she had no answers: 'I don't know who pissed her off today. Hopefully it wasn't me. She played insane, a super-high level.' Sabalenka agreed: 'I felt like whatever decision I made, it was the right one. Against Jess today, compared to our past matches, it was definitely a better level from me.' The key stat: Sabalenka faced only one break point all night and never dropped serve, while Pegula won just five of 19 second-serve points. 'I tried to stick around to see if her level would drop, but it just got better as the match went on,' Pegula said. Sabalenka now has reached the final in four consecutive US Open appearances, including the last three. She will face either Elena Rybakina or Coco Gauff in Saturday's final, but regardless of the result, she will lose the world No. 1 ranking when Iga Świątek returns to the top on Monday. Sabalenka's response: 'I don't care. I can only focus on myself and stay in the moment.' Her path to the final has been near-perfect: straight-set wins over Osorio, Iatcenko, Rakhimova and Townsend, followed by a tough quarter-final against Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova (7-6, 3-6, 7-6). Against Pegula, Sabalenka credited her loss on grass in Berlin earlier this summer as motivation to stay focused from start to finish. A third consecutive US Open title would put Sabalenka in an elite club with Chris Evert and Serena Williams. 'The ranking may be gone, but the US Open trophy is still for me to defend,' she said.