Iga Swiatek weathers Aryna Sabalenka surge to reach first US Open final

WATCH: The Break: Simona Halep's divorce

NEW YORK—With two Grand Slam titles to her name, Iga Swiatek was practically the grizzled veteran in a US Open semifinal field seeking first-time majors.

And when the pressure was on against No. 6 seed Aryna Sabalenka on Thursday evening, her experience shined through as she rallied back for a 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory to become the first Polish woman to reach the final in Flushing Meadows.

“I'm pretty happy that even though maybe I wasn't feeling 100% perfectly from the beginning of the tournament, I was still able to get better and better and to play really solid game,” Swiatek said in her post-match press conference.

“It's the best thing basically. Like on clay, I feel just perfect, you know. But for me actually winning when I'm not feeling perfectly, it's the best kind of thing and best feeling.

"The satisfaction is pretty big.”

With big-hitting Sabalenka in full control for much of the first set, Swiatek kept her calm and waited for her chances, clawing back the second set by dialing up the aggression with her groundstrokes. In the first set, Sabalenka kept Swiatek contained to just three winners, but the Pole came up with seven to turn around the second, reeling off the last four games in a row.

The chances finally came as the Belarusian’s new, biomechanically reengineered serve started to break down in the third set. Swiatek broke serve six times in the match, including twice in the third, to close out the victory in two hours and 13 minutes.

“She was playing really, really good in the key moments,” Sabalenka said after the match. “She was playing aggressively, and I was trying to stay in the game, which was my mistake, I think. I should just go for it.”

Swiatek moved into her third career Grand Slam final and her second of the year, having lifted the 2020 and 2022 Roland Garros trophies. The Pole, who owned a WTA-leading 37-match win-streak during the North American hard-court swing and clay-court swing, will be going for her seventh title of the year.

She will be up against another history-maker in Ons Jabeur, who closed out Caroline Garcia at the expense of just four games, 6-1, 6-3, to reach her second Grand Slam final earlier in the day. In the process, Jabeur became the first African woman in the Open Era and the first Arab woman to reach a championship match in Flushing Meadows.

The pair has split their head to head 2-2, with Swiatek winning their lone hard-court encounter in 2019.

But the world No. 1 will be up against a much different Jabeur than the one she took down in Washington D.C. that year: according to WTA stats, Jabeur has won 92 matches since the start of 2021—the most of any woman on tour, followed by Iga Swiatek with 91.

“She has different game style than most of the players,” Swiatek said of Jabeur. “She has a great touch. All these things mixed up, she's just a tough opponent. That's why probably our matches are always kind of physical and really tight...

“She's just a tough opponent and fully deserves to be in the final. I think it's going to be a great battle.”