With Sabalenka in the final, take your pick for the more bizarre stat: -2016 Angie Kerber is the only woman in the last 25 years to do the AO+USO hardcourt 🏆 sweep -Neither Serena nor Venus Williams ever made both finals in the same season
Sabalenka has chance to join Kerber with hardcourt sweep at US Open
Tennis NewsFriday, 08 September 2023 at 19:30
Aryna Sabalenka has the chance to join Angelique Kerber in achieving a hardcourt sweep at the US Open. This comes after she won the Australian Open earlier this year.
Second seed Sabalenka has dominated the majority of her matches so far at the US Open, not dropping a set against thirteenth seed Daria Kasatkina or twenty-third seed Qinwen Zheng. In the semi-finals, she ran into a bit more difficulty, losing the opening set to Madison Keys 0-6.
However, the Belarusian fought back hard to win the second set and the decider on tiebreaks and now finds herself in the final at Flushing Meadows for the first time in her career, where she will face Coco Gauff.
Chance for surface sweep after Australian Open win
Although it will be a tough battle, some fans have pointed out that if Sabalenka does win, she will have completed a hardcourt sweep after her victory at the Australian Open, the only other hardcourt Grand Slam, earlier this year.
They also pointed out that the only other player to have achieved this in recent decades was former World No. 1 Kerber.
"With Sabalenka in the final, take your pick for the more bizarre stat:
-2016 Angie Kerber is the only woman in the last 25 years to do the AO [Australian Open] +USO [US Open] hardcourt sweep
-Neither Serena [Williams] nor Venus Williams ever made both finals in the same season," wrote one fan on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Sabalenka's success in Australia
The 25-year-old played incredibly strongly at the Slam in Melbourne Park, winning every match up until the final in straight sets. On the way, she ousted Shelby Rogers, twenty-sixth seed Elise Mertens, twelfth seed Belinda Bencic, Donna Vekic, and Magda Linette.
In the final, she came up against 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, but Sabalenka refused to let her gain a second major title, defeating the Kazakhstani player in three sets, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Against Gauff, Sabalenka will have some added challenges in comparison to Melbourne. These include the fact that her American opponent will have the home crowd firmly on her side. Moreover, Gauff got through her semi-final match in straight sets while Sabalenka just made it by the skin of her teeth.
Nevertheless, she will certainly be aiming for that second Grand Slam title and a hardcourt sweep.
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