Elena Rybakina tops Aryna Sabalenka to win US Open

Elena Rybakina put an exclamation point on an amazing and unlikely fortnight Saturday afternoon in the US Open final.

The 27-year-old Kazakh, who will be ranked No. 1 in the world for the first time on Monday, defeated current No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 in two hours, 22 minutes on Saturday afternoon at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York.

Rybakina bookended victories on the 2026 Grand Slam calendar as she defeated Sabalenka in the Australian Open final in January as well.

Both matches followed the same pattern as the second-seeded Rybakina took the first set, the top-seeded Sabalenka rebounded to take the second and Rybakina responded to thwart the comeback.

Rybakina captured her third Grand Slam title, but this championship capped her first journey beyond the fourth round in New York. She burst onto the scene in 2022, when she won Wimbledon as the 17th seed.

To accentuate Rybakina's unlikely triumph in Queens, she sustained a left ankle injury and retired during her quarterfinal match against Poland's Iga Swiatek at the WTA 1000 event in Cincinnati -- the event that preceded the U.S. Open. She could not practice for a week and came into the U.S. Open unsure how the ankle would hold up.

In the deciding set, Rybakina broke Sabalenka in the third game to lead 2-1 when a Sabalenka groundstroke went long at 30-40. After easily holding serve in her next two opportunities, she knocked off a volley to break again and take a 5-2 advantage.

Rybakina committed two double faults while attempting to serve it out, but scorched her 12th ace up the middle to close it out.

"I didn't expect nothing like this coming to this tournament," Rybakina said. "I've been dealing a little bit with injury, but somehow everything aligned together on my side.

"I want to say thank you to all the beautiful spectators for the amazing atmosphere. I honestly was coming here for the last 10 years and was never successful. I am falling in love with New York more and more and it's amazing memories for me."

Rybakina was dominant on serve in the deciding set, winning 16 of 19 points. She captured 35 of 41 points (85.4%) on her first serve for the match.

The first-time U.S. Open champion hit 36 winners and committed only 24 unforced errors, while Sabalenka nearly matched her opponent in winners (32) but made 35 miscues.

It had been 13 years since the U.S. Open finals featured a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup. Top-seeded Serena Williams defeated No. 2 Victoria Azarenka in 2013 to capture her fifth of six titles.

Sabalenka was able to fend off three break points in the third game of the first set, but could not two games later as Rybakina earned the first break of the match after a double fault. Sabalenka slammed the ball into the crowd after her misfire that put her behind 3-2.

Despite Rybakina's paltry 27% efficiency on her first serves in the opening set, Sabalenka could not take advantage. The two-time defending champion only won 7 of 22 second-serve return points and did not get a break-point chance in dropping the first set.

Both players cut down on their respective issues in the second set. Sabalenka sliced her errors from 15 in the first set to eight in the second, while Rybakina improved her first serve to 62%.

Sabalenka earned her first two break points of the match at 5-4 in that second set, but Rybakina saved both set points against and won the next two to knot the set.

With the crowd exhorting her on, Sabalenka finally broke through at 6-5. She spotted her opponent a 30-love lead, but rallied to win the set on a searing backhand return.

Through two sets, each player had won 71 points.

Sabalenka's 99-week streak as the top-ranked women's player was the sixth-longest in WTA history.

"Thank you for all the support for the last two weeks," a distraught Sabalenka said to the crowd. "It was amazing playing in front of you all. Obviously, I'm disappointed, but I want to congratulate Elena on an incredible year and the incredible results.

"I really felt (at) home here and I can't wait to come back next year."

Sabalenka leads the all-time series at 10-8, but Rybakina has won five of seven tournament finals.

--Field Level Media/Reuters