Elena Rybakina capped off her impressive run in New York in the best possible way, defeating Arina Sabalenka 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 in the final to win the US Open for the first time in her career.
The 27-year-old Kazakh, who had already secured her rise to No. 1 in the world rankings, put an end to Sabalenka’s two-year reign at Flushing Meadows and added her third Grand Slam title to her collection.
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With this victory, Rybakina denied Shabalanka a historic “three-peat” at the US Open, and as of Monday, September 14, she will also replace her at the top of the world rankings, ending the Belarusian’s 99-week reign at No. 1.
At the same time, she reaffirmed her dominance over her longtime rival in the most important finals. She had defeated Sabalenka in both the 2025 WTA Finals and the 2026 Australian Open final before capping off a dream year with the trophy at Flushing Meadows.
It is worth noting that this was the first time since 2013 that the top two seeds had faced each other in the women’s US Open final. Back then, Serena Williams had defeated Victoria Azarenka.
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of.
Elena Rybakina is a US Open champion!!!
pic.twitter.com/1QB8jDNTP6
Advertisement— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 12, 2026
*photo source: KYPE
