Second seed Aryna Sabalenka will face American teenager Coco Gauff in the final of the 2023 US Open. The match will be played on Saturday, September 9, 2023.

Aryna Sabalenka recovered from a first-set horror show to beat Madison Keys 0-6, 7-6, 7-6 in two hours and 32 minutes and advance into her second Grand Slam final. Sabalenka produced an incredible fightback in the late-night thriller to fend off the challenge of an in-form Keys, who had earlier during the tournament accounted for two massive scalps, ousting top-ranked American Jessica Pegula and Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova without relinquishing a set. And for moment it looked to like she would add Sabalenka in that portfolio, taking a 6-0, 5-3 lead. It was a battle of two of the WTA’s heavyweights, but the Belarusian star summoned the gumption and precision required to break down Keys to turn the match on its head.

Coco Gauff, meanwhile, won a rematch of the Cincinnati final from a couple fo weeks ago, beating Karolina Muchova 6-4, 7-5 to reach her first US Open final. She’s the first American teenager since Serena Williams over two decades ago to accomplish that feat. After a wobbly start to her campaign, Gauff has produced polished performances just in time of the biggest final she’ll play in since last year’s Roland Garros.

It is Coco Gauff who leads the head-to-head by a slender margin (3-2). But it is Aryna Sabalenka who totally obliterated the young American in their last hard-court meeting at Indian Wells this season, dropping just three games. Understandably, we should certainly expect a spectacle here – these two players have been the standout performers at the US Open – but it is not beyond the Belarusian to conjure up another one of her big-match performances. It is Sabalenka’s season and possibly her destiny to win the US Open (now that the No. 1 ranking is secured). If any further confirmation was needed, it aptly came in the semifinal when she came back from the brink against a red-hot Keys. It will be a double coronation for the second seed and not even Gauff will gatecrash the party.