Usa Today Sports/USA Today Sports, via Reuters
In a United States Open women’s doubles final between four top singles players on Sunday afternoon, Aryna Sabalenka and Elise Mertens defeated Ashleigh Barty and Victoria Azarenka, 7-5, 7-5.
The hard-fought win ended on a wild sequence, with Azarenka badly missing an overhead smash on the 13th shot of a rally.
That set the stage for an unusual denouement because of the U.S. Open tradition of presenting trophies to winning players’ coaches during the post-title news conference.
After Sabalenka lost in the second round of singles, her coach, Dimitrov Tursunov, announced on Instagram that their partnership was ending.