Three maiden Major-seeking players who could deny Aryna Sabalenka US Open three-peat

Two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka has not won a Grand Slam title in 2026, with the last two Major champions making the most of their first final appearance on tennis’ biggest stages. After Mirra Andreeva and Linda Noskova claimed the French Open and Wimbledon titles respectively, will there be a third straight maiden Major champion?

Seven of the last 15 US Open women’s singles winners were first-time Grand Slam champions – Sam Stosur (2011), Flavia Pennetta (2015), Sloane Stephens (2017), Naomi Osaka (2018), Bianca Andreescu (2019), Emma Raducanu (2021), and Coco Gauff (2023). The Straits Times looks at three contenders who could derail Sabalenka’s three-peat hopes.

Slumping Sabalenka

The world No. 1 is hanging on to her place atop the rankings summit and needs to retain her US Open title to stay there. No woman has won three straight US Open titles since Serena Williams (2012-14) and Sabalenka’s form has been sketchy.

She compiled a 17-7 win-loss record since her last title at the Miami Open in March, failing to reach a final in her last seven events.

Some of her defeats have been uncharacteristic. She led Diana Shnaider 6-3, 4-1 in the French Open quarter-finals, only to lose 12 of the next 13 games. Her latest loss came at the hands of qualifier Sara Bejlek in the Cincinnati Open round of 16 on Aug 20, collapsing 7-6 (9-7), 6-4 despite holding a 5-1 lead in the first-set tiebreak and a 4-1 advantage in the second set.

Is this their time?

Jessica Pegula, 32 (USA)

World ranking: No. 3
Career-high ranking: No. 3
No. of US Open appearances: 9
Best US Open result: Final (2024)
Best Grand Slam result: Final (US Open)
2026 win-loss record: 45-12
2026 titles: 2 (Dubai Tennis Championships and Charleston Open)
Key stat: Pegula has the most WTA level main draw wins this season, with world No. 2 Elena Rybakina second on 42 victories.

The New York native has dreamt of winning her first Major title at her “favourite place”. She came closest in the 2024 final and reached the semi-finals at Flushing Meadows last year.

Given that Pegula has no intention of competing professionally by the time she is 35, this might be one of the veteran’s last few US Open appearances. While she is a late bloomer who did not break into the top 100 until 2019, 10 years after turning pro, she has consistently seen the fruits of her labour in recent years.

Pegula has held the No. 3 ranking at some point each year since 2022 and heads to the US Open on the back of a final appearance at the Cincinnati Open. There, she became just the second American after Serena Williams (104) to have at least 100 wins in hard-court WTA 1000 events since the format’s introduction in 2009.

Amanda Anisimova, 24 (USA)

World ranking: No. 10
Career-high ranking: No. 3
No. of US Open appearances: 6
Best US Open result: Final (2025)
Best Grand Slam result: Final (Wimbledon 2025, US Open 2025)
2026 win-loss record: 20-11
2026 titles: 0
Key stat: She is the first WTA player born in the 21st century to reach a Grand Slam semi-final, losing to Ashleigh Barty at Roland Garros in 2019, when she was 17.

A wrist injury curtained Anisimova’s stunning trajectory, forcing her to miss two months of the 2026 season. But she showed signs of returning to her best form, reaching the last eight in Cincinnati – her seventh career WTA-1000 quarter-final and first on American soil.

Pegula proved too strong then, as she did when she ended Anisimova’s Australian Open run in the quarter-finals just days after the latter reached a career-high No. 3 ranking. While Pegula is her nemesis with a 6-0 head-to-head record, Anisimova can boast a rare winning record (6-5) against Sabalenka despite her final loss to the Belarusian at the 2025 US Open.

A refreshed Anisimova, who turns 25 on Aug 31, will be gunning for the senior title after lifting the 2017 US Open girls’ singles trophy.

Marta Kostyuk, 24 (UKR)

World ranking: No. 11
Career-high ranking: No. 11
No. of US Open appearances: 6
Best US Open result: Fourth round (2025)
Best Grand Slam result: Semi-finals (French Open 2026, Wimbledon 2026)
2026 win-loss record: 32-8
2026 titles: 2 (Rouen Open, Madrid Open)
Key stat: No WTA player has more wins against top-10 opponents this season than Kostyuk, who has eight alongside Rybakina and Elina Svitolina.

Kostyuk’s season just keeps getting better. On Aug 20, she beat fifth-seed Mirra Andreeva to reach the Cincinnati Open quarter-finals and record her eighth top-10 victory of the season. This comes just over a month after she reached a career-high No. 11 ranking.

She started her year with three top-10 wins en route to the Brisbane final. In April, she won the Rouen Open and made it back-to-back titles by claiming her first WTA 1000 title at the Madrid Open, where she dropped just one set all tournament. She rode that momentum through to the French Open semi-finals, where she fell to eventual champion Andreeva, snapping a season-leading 17-match winning streak.

She went on to make the Wimbledon semi-finals, showing her versatility on all surfaces. Kostyuk has shown that she knows how to put a solid run together and is set to go deep at Flushing Meadows.