The ladies final was played on day 13 and it was between 6th seeded, American, Pegula and 2nd seed, Sabalenka. This match was a repeat of the Cincinatti final which was played not long before the US Open. Sabalenka narrowly winning that encounter in 2 tight sets…the question was can she do it again?

Sabalenka served first and managed to hold serve and Pegula followed up with a service hold of her own as both ladies were finding their range and fighting to calm the nerves down. Pegula then broke in the 3rd game before Sabalenka broke straight back to make it 2-2. Sabalenka then held and broke again and led 4-2 in this one and looked to be in control as she consolidated the break to lead 5-2. Pegula held comfortably before breaking back to make it 5-4 and then she held again comfortably to level the match at 5-5. The level from both ladies was impressively high. Sabalenka then had an extremely long service game which she eventually managed to take to lead 6-5 and break the run of games lost. Pegula then had a similar service game but unfortunately for the American she did not hold and this meant she had lost the first set 7-5. Sabalenka then held, broke and held to lead 3-0 and looked to have the match in the palm of her hands as her level was raised even more. Pegula however just as she had done in the previous round against Muchova, remained calm and managed to hold to make it 3-1 before breaking and holding to level the score at 3-3 just like that. She then broke again and held again and was a game away from taking the 2nd set. She was on a run of 5 games in a row. Sabalenka managed to halt the momentum as she held to force Pegula to serve the set out and unfortunately for Pegula is was a poor service game and it was level again at 5-5. Sabalenka held and then broke to become the US Open champion for the very first time. This takes Sabalenka’s record on hard court grand slam matches to 27-1 since Aussie Open 2023. The one loss coming against Gauff exactly a year ago at the US Open. Sabalenka is now the 6th different champion in a row at the US Open.

Onto the fantasy league and lots has happened at the top. ‘Sinner’s Physio’ seems to have all but wrapped this one up as their lead is now 33 points over 2nd place. They also end with the best team of ladies scoring a whopping 173 points. ‘Fraud Watch’ sits in 2nd place just 2 points in front of ‘Lord of the Strings’ who sit in 3rd. ‘Uncle Sam’s Army’ sits in 4th just 5 points away from 2nd. There is definitely a battle on between these 3 for 2nd place. A further 10 points back Fantasy Alive who sits in 5th place finally entering the prize paying positions. ‘Flush’ remains in 6th place and ‘Winning Wino’ moves up into 7th place and the last prize position.

We also lost ‘Stars and Stripes’ our once leaders, ‘Buena Suerta’, and ‘Aim for Fame’ in the last 2 day of action.

Enjoy the men’s final…Fritz (27 picks) and Sinner (44 picks). Some people have both while some are supporting just 1.

Just a reminder of the colours:
Yellow: Picked Sabalenka the ladies winner
Red: Eliminated

Jared

Jared matriculated in 2020 from Wynberg Boys High School in beautiful Cape Town, South Africa. His passion for tennis afforded him the opportunity of travelling to Europe. He is a quizmaster and a tennis fantasy league organiser.http://Eishonline.co.za/jftl