Rybakina takes Sabalenka’s ranking and her US Open title, and ends the Grand Slam season as its best player with two majors

Elena Rybakina took everything Aryna Sabalenka had. The Kazakh No. 2 seed beat the Belarusian 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 in the US Open final on Saturday night in New York to win the title Sabalenka had held for two years and the ranking she had held for 99 consecutive weeks.

She ends the Grand Slam season as the only player with two majors, and on Monday she becomes the 30th player to reach world No. 1 since the WTA rankings began in 1975.

It is her third Grand Slam title, after Wimbledon in 2022 and the Australian Open in January. She has now won three of the four majors and needs Roland-Garros to complete the set.

Rybakina struck her backhand cleaner than anything else on the court, and she returned as well as she has all fortnight, winning 41 points on return against 25. It was the shot that turned the first set, when she took 64% of the points off Sabalenka’s second serve.

Across the match Rybakina hit 36 winners to 32 and made 24 unforced errors to 35. She won 85% of the points behind her first serve and 59% behind her second, served 12 aces and five double faults, and won 103 of the 193 points played.

She could not find the words, and said so more than once. “It’s tough to find words right now, honestly,” Rybakina said on court, taking the trophy from Maria Sharapova. “I didn’t expect nothing like this coming to this tournament. I’ve been dealing a little bit with the injury, but somehow everything aligned together on my side.” She was no closer by the end of the speech: “This atmosphere is just something unbelievable, and it doesn’t feel real for now.”

Strange first set

The first set was the strangest of the three. Rybakina landed only 27% of her first serves and won it anyway, taking 68% of the points behind her second against 36% for Sabalenka behind hers, and breaking once at 2-2. Sabalenka saved four of five break points, including three in a single game at 1-1, but made 15 unforced errors to five.

The second set inverted every one of those numbers. Sabalenka held all six of her service games, won 64% of the points on her second serve against 40%, and cut her errors to eight while Rybakina made 13. She missed two set points at 5-4, which Rybakina saved, and broke at 6-5 to take it 7-5.

The decider was quick. Rybakina broke at 1-1, consolidated for 3-1 and led 4-2, had two break points there and saw one saved by a Sabalenka backhand struck behind a second serve, then broke again for 5-2 before the last game.

You pushed to such a limit, I was dying on the court, just trying to get all the possible balls

Rybakina has now beaten a reigning world No. 1 in two Grand Slam finals in the same calendar year, which only Steffi Graf, in 1995, had managed before. It was her tenth career win over a sitting No. 1, her 41st over a top 10 opponent and her tenth of 2026, and her 49th win of the season. She’s the queen in 2026 women’s tennis.

She joins a list of players to win the Australian Open and the US Open in the same year: Graf in 1988 and 1989, Monica Seles in 1991 and 1992, Martina Hingis in 1997, Angelique Kerber in 2016 and Sabalenka in 2024. She is also the first player since Justine Henin in 2007 to beat former US Open champions in both the semifinal and the final, having removed Coco Gauff 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 on Thursday.

“You are a great champion. It’s so difficult to play against you,” Rybakina told Sabalenka on court. “You pushed to such a limit, I was dying on the court, just trying to get all the possible balls. Congrats to you for all the achievements, and congrats to your team, you guys doing an amazing job.”

Sabalenka loses a streak, a ranking and a season

For Sabalenka, the defeat ends 19 consecutive wins at this tournament, a run that goes back to the 2023 final lost again Coco Gauff. She is now 4-5 in Grand Slam finals.

She also leaves 2026 without a major for the first time since 2022, with “only” three titles at Brisbane, Indian Wells and Miami, and with both of her Grand Slam final defeats this year inflicted by the same opponent. She still leads the head-to-head 10-8, and their hard-court record is now 7-8.

“The last thing I want to do right now is give a speech, but I’ll try my very best,” Sabalenka said, making no attempt to hide how little she wanted to be there. She then did it properly. “Obviously I’m disappointed, but I want to congratulate Elena on the incredible year, on the incredible results. Well deserved. Enjoy it, have fun tonight, tomorrow and till the end of the season.” And on the city where the run has just ended: “I really feel like home here and cannot wait to come back next year.”

Sabalenka’s body language told the story long before the third set. The anxiety and the frustration were there from the opening games and never lifted, and against an opponent who shows nothing at all it cost her the moments that decided each set. It is the recurring problem of her last two seasons, and arguably the reason she has lost four of the eight Grand Slams she has played since the start of 2025: the Australian Open and Roland-Garros finals that year, the Wimbledon semifinal that followed, and the Roland-Garros quarterfinal in 2026.

This time she broke a racquet on the bench as soon as it was over. She didn’t wait to be in the locker room like in 2023.