Elena Rybakina ended Aryna Sabalenka's 99-week reign at the summit of the women's game, beating the defending champion 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 on Arthur Ashe Stadium to be crowned US Open champion. The final lasted two hours and 21 minutes, and by the end of it the Kazakh had claimed the world No. 1 ranking as well as her second Grand Slam title of the season. Her form had been under serious scrutiny since she was forced to retire against Iga Swiatek in the quarter-finals in Cincinnati. On the biggest stage of the American hard-court season, she answered every sceptic.
The match itself became a statistical paradox. Rybakina landed only 27% of her first serves in the opening set, yet the sheer aggression of her hitting was enough to take it 6-4. She lifted that figure to 61% in the second, only to waste her break points and surrender the set 5-7. The decider belonged to her alone: two breaks of serve, complete control of the baseline exchanges, and a 12th ace to finish the contest. "It will be a wonderful feeling to wake up knowing I have achieved something this big," Rybakina reflected, now the owner of three titles in the 2026 season. Not since Serena Williams in 2002 had any player beaten the reigning champion in a US Open final. Sabalenka, for her part, promised supporters she would come back to the court stronger still.
