Elena Rybakina Wins ‘This’ Prize Money After Beating Aryna Sabalenka in US Open Final

Elena Rybakina denied Aryna Sabalenka a three-peat of the US Open title. Rybakina, who had never reached the quarterfinals here at Flushing Meadows before this season, clinched a 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 win over the Belarusian ace to win her career’s third Grand Slam title.

It was the fourth Major final of her career. She won the 2022 Wimbledon final by beating Ons Jabeur, lost the 2023 Australian Open final to Sabalenka, then upset the World No.1 in this year’s Australian Open final.

She has improved her head-to-head record over the four-time Grand Slam singles champion to 10-8. Throughout the match, she smashed 12 aces, including on match point, to Sabalenka’s tally of six. Sabalenka could break Rybakina just once but was broken thrice.

For the first time since Steffi Graf and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in 1994, two pairs reached the finals of both hard-court Majors, the Australian Open and the US Open, in the same season. Rybakina denied Sabalenka her third title Down Under to win her second Grand Slam title.

Rybakina then lost the Indian Wells final to Sabalenka, won the Stuttgart Open (beat Karolina Muchova) and lost the Canadian Open to Iga Swiatek. Before this US Open, Sabalenka hadn’t played a final since defeating Coco Gauff in the Miami Open final to complete the Sunshine Double. She has so far won three titles this season.

The 28-year-old will end this season without any Grand Slam titles. But she will take home prize money of $2,800,000. Rybakina was given a cheque of $5.5 million for finishing the event as the winner.

Elena Rybakina beats Aryna Sabalenka for the third time this season

The last time Aryna Sabalenka won a Grand Slam title was at the 2025 US Open by defeating Amanda Anisimova. Had she won the title, she would have become the third woman in the Open Era to complete the hat-trick of this title after Chris Evert and Serena Williams.

That’s the last thing I want to do right now is give a speech, but I’ll try my very best… Obviously I’m disappointed, but I want to congratulate Elena on an incredible year and incredible results. Well-deserved. Enjoy it. Have fun tonight, tomorrow, and the end of the season so I can win some titles. Thank you.

Aryna Sabalenka said during the trophy presentation

Rybakina needs just the French Open to complete the Career Grand Slam. She is also the second woman to beat a World No.1 in two Grand Slam finals in the same year (after Steffi Graf in 1995) and is the first woman to do so in this century.

It’s tough to find words right now. I didn’t expect anything like this coming to this tournament. I’ve been dealing a bit with an injury. Somehow everything aligned together on my side. I just want to say, Aryna, you’re a great champion. It’s so difficult to play you. You push to such a limit. I was doubting on the court and trying to get to all the possible balls. Congrats to you for all the achievements. Congrats to your team. You guys are doing an amazing job.

Elena Rybakina said during the trophy presentation

It was also Rybakina’s sixth Big Title of her career (she now has three Grand Slams, two WTA 1000s, and one WTA Finals). Although she took home the two hard-court Major titles, she did not perform well at the French Open and Wimbledon, losing in the second and third rounds, respectively.

Before this season, the 27-year-old had never made it past the fourth round of the New York Slam. Sabalenka played her fourth consecutive final here.

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