Saturday hosts the championship matches in both women’s singles and men’s doubles.
In the championship match of the 2023 US Open, Coco Gauff defeated Aryna Sabalenka to win her maiden Major title. On Saturday, Gauff looks to defeat the same opponent to win her second Major, while Sabalenka vies for her fourth Major title, in her first Major final not played on a hard court. It’s a blockbuster final between the top two players in the world, in a head-to-head tied at 5-5.
Also on Day 14, it’s the men’s doubles championship, featuring Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos (5) vs. Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski (8). This is a fourth Major final for the team of Granollers and Zeballos, but they are yet to win one. Salisbury is a six-time Major champion between men’s doubles and women’s doubles, while Skupski is a three-time Major champ, as they play for their first Major as a team.
Aryna Sabalenka (1) vs. Coco Gauff (2) – 3:00pm on Court Philippe-Chatrier
Two years ago in the US Open final, Gauff came from a set down to prevail 6-2 in the third. Sabalenka dominated the first set with her power, but Gauff’s defensive skills began to draw more errors during the second and third sets, as did Sabalenka’s nerves. Aryna would end up hitting 46 unforced errors, and only 25 winners.
Eight of their 10 prior meetings have taken place on hard courts. This will be just their third clay court matchup, and they’ve split their previous two. Four years ago in Rome, Gauff won in straights. Two months ago in the final of Madrid, Sabalenka prevailed in straights. However, Madrid famously plays much more quickly than Rome, with the courts in Rome quite similar to the speed of the courts in Paris.
Sabalenka is now 40-6 on the year, and this is already her seventh final, a round in which she is 3-3 during 2025. She of course lost a heartbreaking final to Madison Keys in Melbourne, while playing for her third consecutive Australian Open title. Aryna is 3-2 in Major finals, all on hard courts, and 20-17 overall in WTA finals, though she’s just 3-6 on clay.
Gauff is 30-8 this season, and this is her fourth final, but she’s only claimed one of them. Despite reaching the final of both joint ATP/WTA 1000 events on clay, she lost both finals: the aforementioned one to Sabalenka in Madrid, and another straight-set defeat in the final of Rome to Jasmine Paolini. This is Coco’s third Major final in singles, though the one loss occurred here three years ago at the hands of Iga Swiatek. She’s 9-3 in WTA finals, but just 1-3 on clay.
With possible rain in the forecast for Saturday afternoon, this may become an indoor final, but I’m not convinced that would be a decided advantage for either player. Both own powerful serves and groundstrokes, and both play with ease, with each dropping just one set.
Across the past 52 weeks, Sabalenka has been the stronger performer. However, she also has a history of playing tightly in big matches, as she did against Gauff in their only other Major final. And on this surface, Coco’s speed will prove to be even more crucial, as she’ll be able to track down more balls and force Aryna to play more aggressively, especially on a cooler day like Saturday. But we’ve also seen Gauff’s second serve and forehand become significant trouble for her in the recent past, and Sabalenka will surely be focusing on the Gauff forehand.
In this highly-anticipated championship match, I give the slight edge to Gauff to win her second Major singles title, based on their history as well as the surface. Plus, unlike Sabalenka, Gauff knows what it’s like to win a Major on this court, as she won the women’s doubles event a year ago alongside Katerina Siniakova.
Saturday’s full Order of Play is here.
