Rybakina Reigns in New York, Takes US Open Title and No. 1 Ranking

In her typical stoic fashion, Elena Rybakina casually raised her arms over her head in celebration while cracking a shy smile. If you didn't know Rybakina's mojo, seeing this clip would lead you to believe that she had maybe just won an easy first round match. But no. The 2026 US Open's second seed had just put on a brilliant performance against the former world #1 and top seed, Aryna Sabalenka, to win her third grand slam. As relaxed as the celebration may have looked, her mid-match demeanor was even more steady as the 27-year-old picked her way to victory, defying tough moments to keep herself on track to the win. Let's dig right in...

It's not a great thing to start on a negative. But a key thing to point out as the match got going is that one of Rybakina's normal strong suits, her serve, was underperforming at under 47% for the match. Many consider her to be the queen of the stroke on the WTA Tour, and it's normally an essential component that helps her in wins. While this anomaly may be attributed to nerves, she did an excellent job of pushing that part of her game aside and finding other ways to get around Sabalenka. She made her play. She went for the returns, pushing flat balls up the middle of the court. When Sabalenka served and stepped in, looking for a short ball to make an aggressive play, she was met with a response that had her fumbling back. For Sabalenka to win points, she needs to be the dominant player, and she needs to stay balanced on her feet. Rybakina did not let her do that, as she absorbed Sabalenka's pace and simply redirected it. This soon became increasingly frustrating for the top seed, and at 2-2 in games, she let her serve go and sent a ball flying away into the stands. Despite the action on the other side of the court, Rybakina stayed composed. She had work to do. 

Photo courtesy of WTA 

That one break was a crucial component of the first set. Rybakina didn't have to do much else---as long as she took care of her serve and tried to go for more accuracy on the second, which seemed to work, while still maintaining the offensive consistency from the baseline, she would be fine. And she was, as the Kazakhstani won the first set, 6-4. Then came set number two. 

As is often the case in professional tennis, the winner of the first set will being to let the level dip in the second. That happened here, as Sabalenka began to notice the weaker service patterns and began to apply more pressure, sinking her teeth into rallies, and on several occasions, getting close to a break. And it came at 6-5, with Sabalenka using her last opportunity to run away with the set before she'd have to settle the matter in a tiebreak. Onto a third we went. 

Photo courtesy of WTA Communications; provided by Getty images.

Rybakina carried no disappointment into the final set. She broke early, moving ahead at 3-2. The serve started getting stronger. The pace picked up. It seemed like there was a clear destination in mind for Rybakina, and she hadn't even reached cruising altitude yet. Sabalenka was finding it hard to carve out opportunities to attack, as Rybakina consistently pushed her behind the baseline and maintained her status as the aggressive force. And suddenly, Rybakina was up 5-2, serving for the match. And with an ace in classic fashion, she closed it out superbly. 

So, what does that mean for the landscape of women's tennis? First thing to note: it's significant that Sabalenka has gone slam-less in 2026. That's by no means a direct criticism to her, but it does indicate a new balance of power at the top of the game, and suggests that her dominance she was displaying over the past few years may be starting to relax. Is she capable of reasserting that status? Absolutely. I think this year was difficult in many ways for her. There were tough draws---physically, psychologically, and tennis-wise---at the majors. I think it's realistic that she'll have some slam silverware back in her hands at some point next year, and maybe even multiple times. Rybakina, meanwhile, is looking fantastic right now. But we've seen her come in and out of form often. It's hard to predict where she'll be standing week to week, let alone on a broad scale. But this is certainly a significant chapter of her career. Perhaps, having both the title and the number next to her name to match it will help define her as a steady presence at the very pinnacle of the game. It will be interesting to see what happens when these two play again, most likely later this fall at a big event on the Asian swing or at the WTA Finals in Indian Wells. But for now, Rybakina in the champion. And if there's one thing we can say for sure about her, it's that she most certainly deserved it. 

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Written by Florida Tennis contributor Will Turvey. Top banner photo courtesy of WTA Communications; provided by Getty images.

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