Elena Rybakina Stuns Aryna Sabalenka and Becomes First Kazakh Player Ever to Win US Open

Elena Rybakina spoiled Aryna Sabalenka‘s three-peat goal at the US Open. On Saturday (September 12), the World No.2 clinched a 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 victory in the final and became the first Kazakh player to win the title at Flushing Meadows.

Sabalenka served to start the match and won the first game. The match was a tight affair from the very first game. Rybakina’s service game, as expected, put pressure on Sabalenka. At 2-2, Rybakina broke Sabalenka on the back of the latter’s double fault and held her serve to love, but lost her cool when she failed to break her opponent.

Sabalenka, trailing 3-5, needed to hold her serve to keep herself alive in the first set, and she did it, but next, she couldn’t break Rybakina, who clinched the first set 6-4. At 1-1 in the second set, Rybakina had another break point opportunity, but she lost her composure after losing a point, before losing the game due to a Sabalenka winner. Rybakina smashed a couple of aces in the next game, with the last one helping her tie the score at 2-2.

Leading 5-4 in the second set, Sabalenka made two unforced errors, and this helped Rybakina bring the game to deuce before she tied the score at 5-5. After a tight game, Sabalenka took a 6-5 lead. She then had to break Rybakina to win the second set. For the first time in the match, she broke her opponent to force the decider.

Sabalenka’s level dropped in the third set. At 5-2, Rybakina raced to 30-0 but double-faulted next, then won the next point. The 27-year-old then served for the championship. The Ace Queen smashed an ace and clinched her career’s third Grand Slam title.

Elena Rybakina will start the next week as World No.1 player

Elena Rybakina had already dethroned Aryna Sabalenka from the No.1 ranking when she reached the semifinals. On Monday, she will officially reach her career-best ranking. The win helped Rybakina improve her head-to-head record to 10-8. Rybakina suffered an injury before coming to New York and was forced to withdraw from her fourth-round match in Cincinnati. The US Open title was her career’s sixth Big Title.

Sabalenka had dropped just one set prior to this final, against reigning Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova in the quarterfinals. En route to the final, Rybakina had dropped two sets, against Qinwen Zheng in the quarterfinals and Coco Gauff in the semifinals.

Before this US Open, only two women had completed the hat-trick of this Major: Chris Evert (1975, 1976, 1977) and Serena Williams (2012, 2013, 2014). Also before this season, Sabalenka played three finals at Flushing Meadows, losing in 2023 to Gauff and winning in the following two seasons by defeating Jessica Pegula (2024) and Amanda Anisimova (2025).

Rybakina, however, had never advanced to the quarterfinals here prior to this season. At the French Open and Wimbledon this season, she lost in the second and third rounds, respectively.

Sabalenka reached her first final since completing the Sunshine Double in March. And before reaching this rare milestone, she defended the Brisbane International title and lost the Australian Open to Rybakina.

The World No.2, after winning her second Grand Slam title in the Melbourne Major, played three more finals before arriving at Flushing Meadows, losing in Indian Wells to Sabalenka, winning the Stuttgart Open by beating Karolina Muchova, and losing the Canadian Open final to Iga Swiatek.

Before Sabalenka and Rybakina, only one pair had previously played the finals of both hard-court Majors: Steffi Graf and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in 1994. Rybakina now needs just the French Open to complete the Career Grand Slam.

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