Girl power: World No. 2's forehand faster than men at U.S. Open

Aryna Sabalenka has powered her way into the 2024 U.S. Open final. Quite literally.

According to the tournament's official tracking data, the World No. 2 clocks an average forehand topspin speed of 80 mph, which ranks faster than top men's stars Carlos Alcaraz (79 mph), Jannik Sinner (78 mph) and Novak Djokovic (76 mph).

The Belarusian was admittedly surprised when the video board at Arthur Ashe Stadium highlighted the statistic earlier this week.

"I saw my stats on my forehand, and I actually can't believe it's that fast," she said after her win over Qinwen Zheng in the quarterfinal. "It felt kind of uncomfortable being at the top [of the list] and even hitting harder than guys. That's a really interesting stat."

The ongoing U.S. Open is not the first instance of Sabalenka out-muscling her male counterparts. During her first-round tie against Erika Andreeva at this year's French Open, she recorded a forehand top speed of 78 mph, beating Sinner's mark of 75 mph . Those numbers turned heads since the clay courts at Roland-Garros typically produce the slowest-paced forehands among all four major events.

Sabalenka continued to dish out lasers in her 6-3, 7-6 win over American Emma Navarro in the U.S. Open semifinal on Thursday. With the win, she clinched a berth in the final at Flushing Meadows for a second consecutive year, following her loss to Coco Gauff in last year's championship match.

The 26-year-old will again face an American, Jessica Pegula, in the final on Saturday.

Sabalenka has often drawn comparisons to the great Serena Willims, largely due to her formidable groundstrokes and brute force. As such, it's only fitting that she's become the first player since Williams to make back-to-back finals at Flushing Meadows. She enters the match against Pegula as the overwhelming betting favorite to win her first U.S. Open title and third career grand slam title.