Rybakina takes the U.S. Open and the No. 1 ranking from Sabalenka

Elena Rybakina beat Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 in the women's final at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Saturday, 12 September. The match lasted 2 hours 21 minutes. On Monday Rybakina will be ranked No. 1 on the WTA tour. Sabalenka had held that place. She also left New York without a third straight U.S. Open title.

Rybakina, 27, was born in Moscow and represents Kazakhstan. She now has three Grand Slam singles titles: Wimbledon in 2022, the Australian Open in January 2026, and this one. The winner's cheque was $5.5 million, the largest single payday in Grand Slam history. Sabalenka took $2.8 million as runner-up. Maria Sharapova, the 2006 champion, presented the Tiffany trophy.

How the match broke

Rybakina broke in the fifth game of the first set and held the lead to 6-4. Sabalenka committed 14 of her 35 unforced errors in that set. She recovered in the second, broke late and forced a decider at 7-5. Rybakina opened the third set by going up 4-1. On match point Sabalenka missed a return and Rybakina served an ace.

This was their 15th hard-court meeting. Rybakina now leads those 8-7. It was a rematch of the Australian Open final, which Rybakina won. Sabalenka had since beaten her in the Indian Wells final and the Miami semi-finals. Saturday reversed that run.

Sabalenka smashed a racket after the last point. In the ceremony she said she wished she had played better and that she would try again next year. Her U.S. Open winning streak ended at 19 matches. She won the title in 2024 and 2025 after losing the 2023 final to Coco Gauff. A third straight title would have put her with Serena Williams (2012-14) and Chris Evert as the only women in the Open era to three-peat in New York. That line stays closed.

The week around her

Rybakina's path included a 6-1, 6-4 win over Naomi Osaka in the round of 16 and a three-set quarter-final against Zheng Qinwen. She beat Gauff in the semi-finals. She now has three titles this season, level with Sabalenka and French Open champion Mirra Andreeva for the tour lead.

The crowd included Jessica Chastain, Brad Pitt, Amy Adams, Elizabeth Banks, Paris Hilton, Spike Lee, Pink and Sharapova. That is colour, not the result. The result is that the ranking table changes on Monday and that Sabalenka's New York hold is over.

The men's final is still open

On Sunday, 13 September, Alexander Zverev, the top seed, plays Ben Shelton, the eighth seed, at 14:00 local time on ABC. Shelton beat Frances Tiafoe 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 on Friday in 3 hours 17 minutes. No American man has won a major singles title since Andy Roddick in New York in 2003. Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic are all out. Almanaque published the Shelton-Tiafoe semi-final on Saturday. The final is the unfinished piece.

Rybakina said after the trophy that things aligned. The ranking computer is less poetic. It will print her name first on Monday.