Aryna Sabalenka holds up the championship trophy after defeating Amanda Anisimova

Aryna Sabalenka holds up the championship trophy after defeating Amanda Anisimova. (AP Photo)

When serving for the match with the score poised at 5-4, 30-all, Sabalenka was a fraction slow in getting to an overhead, giving her opponent breakpoint.

If she breaks me back or if she plays incredible tennis,” she said. “It’s a final, she’s going to be fighting, especially after the Wimbledon final (where Anisimova lost 0-6, 0-6), she would love to have a better result.” The crowd, never missing a chance to cheer against her, erupted. “Going into this final I decided that I was going to control my emotions. I’m not going to let them take control over me, irrespective of what happens in the match.

“In the first set when she broke me (third and fifth games) and then at the end of the second set when she broke me (tenth game) those were two moments where I was really close to losing control, but I told myself, it’s not going to happen, it’s absolutely okay. “I just felt like throughout the match I wasn’t playing my best tennis,” said Anisimova, who had 29 unforced errors in the match, almost twice that of her opponent. “I felt rushed, and it was really hard to have any momentum or rhythm,” said Anisimova, who moves up to No.4 in the rankings on Monday. “I was trying to stay in the match and figure out a way of how I can make it more difficult for her, but the rallies weren’t long at all.”

That’s what you expect in the final. “I feel like with finals I have a lot of nerves, and it’s something I’m trying to work on, but I just wish I played more aggressively. Of course, she was playing amazing. She was playing very aggressively and doing all the right things.

She did have 70 unforced errors in that match, but that was not the time to bring it up. The vivacious Belarusian, who has now reached six consecutive Grand Slam finals on hard courts, became the first player since Serena Williams, more than a decade ago, to win back-to-back titles at Flushing Meadows. In the Australian Open final in January she let the crowd get to her when going for a three-peat against the gusty Madison Keys. In the French capital four months later, Sabalenka threw shade on Coco Gauff’s victory in the immediate aftermath of the final, making it all about herself.