US Open: Elena Rybakina to face Aryna Sabalenka in final after comeback win over Coco Gauff Yahoo Sports Sabalenka rolls past Pegula, will vie for three-peat in US Open final ESPN 'I Don't Know Who Pissed Her Off' - Jess...
The 2026 US Open women's final will be Elena Rybakina, the new WTA No. 1, against Aryna Sabalenka, the old No. 1.
Rybakina took everything No. 4 Coco Gauff had in the semifinals and still pulled out a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Thursday. Her reward will be a clash with the woman she took the top ranking from just by reaching the semifinals.
Sabalenka reached the final with a demolition of No. 3 Jessica Pegula earlier Thursday .
Rybakina's path was a bit more complicated. It's not that she failed to execute in the first set, she just ran into a fellow two-time Grand Slam winner playing some of the best tennis of her life.
Gauff had everything working for her early on. She usually has some one of the best backhands and speed in tennis, but she also showed up with a huge serve - a marked departure from her past struggles with that shot - and enough confidence in her forehand to give Rybakina nowhere to put the ball.
She even out-aced Rybakina, the consensus best server in women's tennis, 4-1 in that set. The Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd was clearly pulling for her and had plenty of reason to cheer.
Unfortunately, the next two sets turned into the kind of competition where Gauff has to win ugly, and Rybakina didn't join her there. Gauff's forehand disappeared in the blink of a changeover, going from two unforced errors with the shot in the first set to seven in the second. That wound up being all the vulnerability Rybakina needed to lock in and show why she will have a different ranking on Monday.
Gauff's serve kept her competitive in the third set to a point, but the break by Rybakina was inevitable. What was more surprising was Gauff managing to break back while down 5-4 in the most electric moment of the match.
However, the adrenaline receded and Rybakina won four consecutive points off Gauff's serve to anticlimactically end the match, with Gauff airmailing an overhead smash on her final shot.
Saturday will see a clash of the two best hardcourt players of a generation, though only the US Open trophy will be on the line.
Rybakina is guaranteed to be the new WTA No. 1 come Monday, by virtue of having far fewer rankings points to defend than the defending US Open champion Sabalenka. However, it's not like either woman needed such a motivation to be at her best.
Sabalenka leads the career head-to-head battle 10-7 against Rybakina, and many of those matches have been on big stages in the past year. Rybakina beat Sabalenka in both last year's WTA Finals championship and this year's Australian Open final. Sabalenka beat Rybakina in both finals of this year's Sunshine Double, in Indian Wells and Miami.
Rybakina has that Australian title as well the 2022 Wimbledon trophy. This will be her first US Open final, though, as she had never advanced past the fourth round in New York City until this year. Sabalenka, meanwhile, will be playing her fourth straight US Open final.
The American crowd was pulling for both Pegula and Gauff on Thursday. They got the top two seeds taking care of business instead.
Saturday's final will now be a matchup of No. 1 vs. No. 2, with Elena Rybakina trying to foil Aryna Sabalenka's US Open three-peat.
Reporting synthesized and verified under Nexvoro.tech editorial guidelines. Full primary records referenced via Google News US Sports.
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