BREAKING NEWS: Rybakina beats Sabalenka to win the US Open

Elena Rybakina won the US Open for the first time and will become world No. 1 on Monday, the Kazakh No. 2 seed beating Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 in the final in New York.

It is her third Grand Slam title, after Wimbledon in 2022 and the Australian Open in January, and her second of the season. She is the third woman since 2000 to win the Australian Open and the US Open in the same year, after Angelique Kerber in 2016 and Sabalenka in 2024, and she becomes the first player from Kazakhstan to win a US Open title or to hold the world No. 1 ranking.

She has also now beaten a reigning world No. 1 in two Grand Slam finals in the same calendar year, something only Steffi Graf, in 1995, had done before. It was her tenth career win over a sitting No. 1.

For Sabalenka, the defeat ends a run of 19 consecutive wins at this tournament stretching back to the 2023 final, and leaves her without a Grand Slam title for the first season since 2022. Both of her major final defeats this year came against Rybakina. She broke a racquet on the bench as soon as it finished.