IMAGE: Coco Gauff of the United States breaks into celebration after defeating Belarus’s Aryna Sabalenka in the women’s singles final at Flushing Meadows, New York, on Saturday. Photograph: Mike Segar/Reuters
American teenager Coco Gauff fought back from a set down to beat Belarusian second seed Aryna Sabalenka 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the US Open women’s final and win her first Grand Slam title on Saturday.
Following the triumph, the sixth seeded Gauff became the first American to win a US Open singles title since Sloane Stephens in 2017.
Gauff, 19, fed off an adoring home crowd as she mounted a terrific second set fightback and kept the momentum up through the end of the battle, before she fell to the court on Arthur Ashe Stadium after clinching the title with a backhand winner.
Sabalenka had a superb start but could not maintain the intensity as unforced errors piled up and she closed her 2023 Grand Slam run, which included an Australian Open title and semi-finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, on a disappointing note.