NEW YORK (Reuters) – Factbox on Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka, who beat Jessica Pegula 7-5 7-5 in the U.S. Open final on Saturday to win her third Grand Slam title.
ARYNA SABALENKA
Age: 26
Nation: Belarus
WTA Ranking: 2
Seeding: 2
Grand Slam titles: 3 (Australian Open 2023, 2024, U.S. Open 2024)
ROAD TO FINAL
First round: beat Priscilla Hon (Australia) 6-3 6-3
Second round: beat Lucia Bronzetti (Italy) 6-3 6-1
Third round: beat 29-Ekaterina Alexandrova (Russia) 2-6 6-1 6-2
Fourth round: beat 33-Elise Mertens (Belgium) 6-2 6-4
Quarter-finals: beat 7-Zheng Qinwen (China) 6-1 6-2
Semi-finals: beat 13-Emma Navarro (U.S.) 6-3 7-6(2)
EARLY LIFE
* Born in Minsk. Began playing tennis at age six.
CAREER TO DATE
* Began her professional career playing on the ITF Circuit in 2012.
* Won three singles titles and one doubles title on ITF Circuit in 2015.
* Played first WTA qualifying event at Rabat in 2016 and played in her first WTA main draw at Dubai the following year. Ended 2017 ranked number 78 for first top-100 finish.
* Won two WTA titles at New Haven and Wuhan in 2018. First Top-20 season finishing ranked 11th.
* Won three WTA singles titles and three doubles titles in 2019, including first Grand Slam doubles title at the U.S. Open with Belgian partner Elise Mertens.
* Won Doha, Ostrava and Linz titles for a joint Tour-leading record in 2020. Climbed one place in the rankings for her first Top-10 season.
* Won Abu Dhabi and Madrid in 2021 and reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.
* Reached the 2022 U.S. Open semi-finals. Qualified for the WTA Finals for the second consecutive year where she defeated the top three players in the tournament — Jessica Pegula, Ons Jabeur and Iga Swiatek — and finished runner-up losing to Caroline Garcia.
* Won the Australian Open beating Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan) and reached Wimbledon and French Open semi-finals and finished runner-up at the U.S. Open in 2023. Also won titles in Adelaide and Madrid.
* Reached a career-high ranking of number one in September 2023.
* Won the Australian Open for the second consecutive year in January 2024 beating Zheng Qinwen and reached the quarter-finals of French Open before missing Wimbledon and the Paris Olympics with a shoulder injury.
* Won the 2024 U.S. Open by beating sixth seed Jessica Pegula.
(Compiled by Chiranjit Ojha in Bengaluru; Editing by Toby Davis)
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