Aryna Sabalenka has cited her ‘very tough’ lesson against Coco Gauff as motivation to reach the final of the US Open.
Sabalenka beat Emma Navarro 6-3 7-6 [7-2] in the semi-finals on Friday to seal her spot in the final against American Jessica Pegula on Saturday evening.
The 26-year-old has reached back-to-back finals at Flushing Meadows in New York, although her last outing ended in defeat to Gauff.
Sabalenka won the first set 6-2 but her American opponent took the second and third sets 6-3 6-2 to claim her first Grand Slam victory.
Although losing such a lead cost her last year, she appeared to learn from her mistakes in her most recent outing on the court.
Navarro fought back from 5-3 down in the second set to take it to a tiebreak but Sabalenka fought hard to reach another final.
Speaking after the match per the Daily Express, the world no.2 revealed how her defeat to Gauff in 2023 inspired her resilience on Friday night.
“That was very difficult match, especially at the end of the second set I got a little emotional and had this little flashback on last year’s final, meaning the crowd atmosphere,” she said.
“I’m really glad that the lessons learned, and I was able to control my emotions and I was able to close this match in two sets.”
She added: “Last year, it was very tough experience, very tough lesson. Today in the match, I was, like, ‘No, no, no, Aryna, it’s not going to happen again. You have to control your emotions. You have to focus on yourself.’
“Tough losses never make me feel depressed. It’s only motivated me to come back and to try one more time, try harder and maybe, like, work harder on some things which maybe didn’t work in the past. I’m still hoping to hold that beautiful trophy.”
Sabalenka, who is a two-time Australian Open champion, has dropped just one set en route to this year’s US Open final.
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She beat Priscilla Hon, Lucia Bronzetti, Ekaterina Alexandrova, Elise Mertens and Zheng Qinwen before victory over Navarro.
Sabalenka will now face Pegula for the eighth time in her career and will enter the match having won five of their previous seven meetings.
Pegula will walk onto the court in the final in front of her home crowd after beating Karolina Muchova 1-6 6-4 6-2 in their semi-final.