Aryna Sabalenka's 99-week reign at the summit of women's tennis is over, ended by 27-year-old Elena Rybakina. The Kazakh beat Zheng Qinwen 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 to reach the US Open semi-finals and, in doing so, secured the world number one ranking. The shifting patchwork of sun and shadow across Arthur Ashe Stadium left Rybakina uncomfortable in the opening set. Yet she took the second in 38 minutes and broke the resistance of the world number 121 and 2024 Olympic champion. In the decider, a costly double fault robbed the Chinese player of any chance to save the match. "That was a bit pity for me to lose this match, but obviously I could take positive things from US Open this year," Zheng reflected afterwards.
The new world number one took the milestone calmly in her stride. "It's just a number right now and of course I'm in the semis so my goal is to win the tournament," Rybakina insisted. Tellingly, she is also the second-oldest player in WTA history to reach world number one for the first time.
