Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka defeats American Jessica Pegula in the US Open final, fulfilling her father's dream.

On Saturday, Jessica Pegula, an American tennis player, lost the women's singles final at the U.S. Open to Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus. Sabalenka won both sets with scores of 7-5.

Pegula fought back after falling behind in the match, winning the next five subsets after Sabalenka took a 3-0 lead in the second set. However, Sabalenka won the next four subsets to close out the match.

Sabalenka had won 11 straight matches and 22 of her last 23 sets going into the match. The 26-year-old from Belarus claimed her third Grand Slam title after winning the last two Australian Opens.

Pegula had won 15 of her past 16 matches, all on hard courts like those used at Flushing Meadows. However, her only loss in that span came against Sabalenka in the final of the Cincinnati Open last month. Despite a surprising run to the final, Pegula lost to Sabalenka again on the material.

Iga Swiatek was eliminated by Pegula, a 30-year-old from New York who is the No. 6 seed and appearing in her first Grand Slam final. She had previously been 0-6 in major quarterfinals until her victory over Swiatek on Wednesday.

The two players came from very different backgrounds and tennis upbringings.

The Pegula family, with a net worth of over $7.5 billion, owns the NFL's Buffalo Bills and the NHL's Buffalo Sabres, making them upstate New York royalty.

In September 2021, Jessica Pegula featured on the Bills Pod Squad podcast with her mom, acknowledging her parents' contribution to her athletic achievements.

"Dad and I are like oil and water on the tennis court," she said, chuckling. "But he always pushed me to do better, to work hard, and outwork someone. He's very old school."

Her mom has assisted her in maintaining fitness despite not being publicly acknowledged.

"You were the more off-court, get healthy. Like the diet, the recovery, you know, the training and stuff like that."

In Belarus, Sabalenka was born in Minks and her father, an ice hockey player, unintentionally introduced her to tennis.

On a particular day, my dad and I were driving in the car when he spotted tennis courts. He then took me to the courts, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. This is how it all began, as she shared in an interview with TennisMajors.com in August.

Despite her father's passing in 2019 at the age of 43, she won her first Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open in 2023 and 2024, bringing her closer to fulfilling her father's dream.

After winning the Australian Open final against Zheng Qinwen, she said that before turning 25, she had always dreamed of winning a couple of Grand Slams.

At the 2023 Australian Open, Sabalenka won her first Grand Slam before the age of 25, and this year, she clinched her second before turning 26 on her birthday in May.

In March, at the age of 42, Konstantin Koltsov, a Belarusian hockey player who played with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the NHL, took his own life, leaving Sabalenka without her boyfriend.

Sabalenka has won her third Grand Slam title and aims to continue her success at the Australian Open in January.

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