NEW YORK (AP) — Aryna Sabalenka faces Jessica Pegula, and Naomi Osaka meets Amanda Anisimova in the U.S. Open women's semifinals.
The first match, defending champion Sabalenka against Pegula in a rematch of last year's final, is scheduled to begin Thursday night at about 7 p.m. EDT in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
That will be followed by Osaka vs. Anisimova.
Thursday's winners will play against each other for the championship on Saturday.
Sabalenka beat Pegula 7-5, 7-5 for the 2024 U.S. Open title to collect
her third Grand Slam trophy, all on hard courts.
Since then, Sabalenka was the runner-up to Madison Keys at the Australian Open in January and to Coco Gauff at the French Open in June, then was eliminated in the Wimbledon semifinals by Anisimova in July.
Sabalenka, a 27-year-old from Belarus, is seeded No. 1 in New York.
No. 4 Pegula, an American whose parents own the NFL's Buffalo Bills and NHL's Buffalo Sabres, will be trying to reach her second major final. She has rebounded well after losing in the first round at Wimbledon.
No. 8 Anisimova, also from the United States, hopes to get to her second consecutive Slam title match after losing at that stage to Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon by a 6-0, 6-0 score. Anisimova shook that off impressively and beat Swiatek in the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open on Wednesday.
No. 23 Osaka, who was born in Japan and grew up in the U.S., has the most Grand Slam trophies of any of woman left in the field, with four. She won the U.S. Open in 2018 and 2020, and the Australian Open in 2019 and 2021.
Osaka eliminated Coco Gauff in the fourth round and owns a career record of 13-0 combined across major quarterfinals, semifinals and finals. But Osaka last made it this far at one of the sport's biggest tournaments 4 1/2 years ago.
At the French Open in 2021, she spoke publicly for the first time about dealing with anxiety and depression, then took the first of a series of mental-health breaks, helping usher in a global conversation about well-being. Osaka also was away from the tour for 17 months while on maternity leave; her daughter, Shai, was born in July 2023.
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Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
