22:33
Gauff – Sabalenka 1:2
This time the Belarusian decides to put her forehand in the free corner. From her point of view, she reduces her deficit to 15:30. However, with the third double fault in the second service game, she gave her opponent two break chances.
22:31
Gauff – Sabalenka 1:2
Lucky for Gauff! Sabalenka serves to the outside and uses her forehand cross against the American’s run. She misses the field by a few centimeters. She makes double fault number two and opens the door for Coco Gauff.
22:29
Gauff – Sabalenka 1:2
Gauff puts herself on the scoreboard and slowly finds her rhythm.
22:29
Gauff – Sabalenka 0:2
Gauff’s first serve comes twice, and in both cases she scores the point. This is followed by a forehand that gets caught in the net. But she immediately undoes this mistake with the first forehand longline winner.
22:27
Gauff – Sabalenka 0:2
With the score at 40:0, Aryna Sabalenka makes the first double fault. But that remains the only point for Gauff, who then moves her backhand cross return out of bounds.
10:25 p.m
Gauff – Sabalenka 0:1
Coco Gauff hasn’t even arrived on the pitch yet. She still has to find her way into this game and is currently just playing the ball back. She also makes an unusually large number of slight mistakes from the baseline. After the backhand flies out to make it 30-0, Gauff has to smile briefly. She knows herself that there needs to be an increase in performance.
22:24
Gauff – Sabalenka 0:1
With a very strong forehand cross from the half court, Sabalenka gets the second chance to break. This time she leaves no doubt that she wants this break too. She plays her opponent against the wall and takes a 1-0 lead.
22:22
Gauff – Sabalenka 0:0
Sabalenka has the break on her racket, but can’t complete the attacking ball at first and then puts her smash into the net with her back to the net.
22:21
Gauff – Sabalenka 0:0
The American’s start is still a little cautious. This means Sabalenka has a break chance right in the first service game. She shoots the ball at Gauff’s feet, who is forced to make a forehand error.
10:20 p.m
Gauff – Sabalenka 0:0
After a frame hit by the 19-year-old, it was Sabalenka’s forehand that didn’t find its way into the individual field again.
22:19
Gauff – Sabalenka 0:0
Dinner is served! Gauff has to go over the second serve and immediately feels the return pressure from Sabalenka. In the next rally, the 25-year-old wants too much and twists her forehand cross into the double court, 15:15.
22:13
Players are there
The two protagonists arrive at the stadium slightly late. Cori Gauff, nicknamed Coco Gauff, wins the coin toss. She decides to serve and will open the final after the serving phase.
22:01
The conditions
The roof at Arthur Ashe Stadium has already been closed all day. The advantage is that this allows the air conditioning to run and thus the temperatures can be regulated. Gauff has already held her training session on the main square. Sabalenka, on the other hand, decided to use one of the training grounds outside, which does not have a roof.
9:58 p.m
The new number one is ready
None other than the new world number one wants to prevent Gauff’s home win. Due to Iga Swiatek’s defeat in the round of 16, it was clear early on that Aryna Sabalenka would climb to the throne. The Belarusian also reached at least the semi-finals in every Grand Slam this year. She won her first major title at the Australia Open, which is also played on hard courts. In her semi-final against local hero Madison Keys, the 25-year-old was actually almost out. After Keys took a 6-0 and 5-3 lead, Sabalenka fought back impressively. Under no circumstances did she want to pack her bags in the semifinals and brought the game to a tiebreak twice more. She can also smile in retrospect that she celebrated too early in the tiebreak at 7:3 in the deciding set. As a reminder: The tiebreak in the third set is played to ten.
9:48 p.m
Gauff wants a home win
The 19-year-old Cori Gauff is in a Grand Slam final for the second time in her young career. After Roland Garros 2022, she will now also make it to the final in her home country. On her way to the final, she knocked well-known players such as Caroline Wozniaki, Elise Mertens, Jelena Ostapenko and also the French Open finalist Karolina Muchova out of the tournament. Six years after Sloane Stephens’ triumph, the Americans can once again hope for a home triumph in Flushing Meadows. As number six in the world, the American has firmly established herself among the world’s best. But it’s not just in the individual game that Gauff is currently extremely strong. Together with her doubles partner Jessica Pegula, she will be the new number one in the doubles rankings from next Monday.
9:31 p.m
Welcome
Good evening and welcome to the big showdown at the US Open 2023. The women’s final is almost upon us. Aryna Sabalenka and Cori Gauff are expected at Arthur Ashe Stadium at 10 p.m.