Elena Rybakina Beats Sabalenka to Win US Open, Becomes First Kazakh World No. 1

THE FINAL

Elena Rybakina beat Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 in two hours and 21 minutes at Arthur Ashe Stadium to win her first US Open title, ending Sabalenka's bid to become the first woman since Serena Williams to win three straight US Open crowns. Rybakina broke early in the deciding set and again at 5-2, closing out the match with the flat, heavy serve that has defined her game since she first broke through at Wimbledon in 2022.

"It's tough to find the words right now," Rybakina said during the trophy presentation. "Honestly, I didn't expect anything like this coming from this tournament." She turned to Sabalenka during the ceremony and added, "Aryna, you're a great champion. It's so difficult to play against you. You push me to such a limit."

THE ROAD TO THE FINAL

Rybakina's run through the draw came in an unusually chalky tournament. The top four seeds all reached the semifinals in the women's draw, the first time that has happened at the US Open since 1975 and the first time at any Grand Slam since Wimbledon in 2009. Rybakina beat Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the quarterfinals, then rallied past Coco Gauff 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinal in front of a crowd largely rooting for the American. The final was a rematch of January's Australian Open final, which Rybakina also won in three sets against Sabalenka.

A HISTORIC RANKING

The win did more than add a trophy. When the WTA released its updated rankings on September 14, Rybakina moved past Sabalenka to become world No. 1, the 30th woman in tour history to hold the top spot and the first player from Kazakhstan, male or female, to do it. Sabalenka had held No. 1 for 99 consecutive weeks before losing it.

Rybakina had already put herself in position for the ranking before the final even started, moving into the live No. 1 spot after her quarterfinal win over Zheng on September 9. Beating Sabalenka in the final made the change official rather than provisional, and Zheng's own run to the quarterfinals pushed her up 69 places in the same rankings release.

A SEASON DEFINED BY ONE RIVALRY

The US Open final was the second major final Rybakina and Sabalenka have played against each other this year alone, and Rybakina has now won both. The title is her third Grand Slam singles crown overall, following the 2022 Wimbledon Championships and this year's Australian Open, and her 14th WTA Tour singles title. She also won the 2025 WTA Finals.

WHAT'S NEXT

Sabalenka drops to No. 2 in the new rankings after a run that included two of the last three US Open titles, and she is expected to remain Rybakina's closest challenger heading into the WTA Finals later this year. For Rybakina, the task now shifts from chasing the ranking to defending it, starting with the tour's Asian hard court swing and continuing through the season-ending Finals, where she will arrive for the first time as the tour's top seed rather than its pursuer.