Aryna Sabalenka has a great chance to win the US Open for a third straight year on Saturday. But irrespective of the result in the final, she’ll leave New York without the No.1 ranking she had held for 99 weeks. Elena Rybakina has already made sure of that! Now, the two will meet for another Grand Slam title, giving Sabalenka a chance to settle more than one score.

Sabalenka booked her place in the final by once again having Jessica Pegula’s number in New York, beating the American 7-5, 6-2. It was her third straight US Open victory over Pegula and her fourth consecutive final at Flushing Meadows.

Yet even after another dominant performance, the conversation quickly shifted toward the ranking. Asked whether it felt strange to reach another final, potentially win the tournament, and still lose the top ranking, Sabalenka laughed it off.

“I don’t care,” she said, before admitting that the situation was, in fact, “a little bit weird.”

“I can only focus on myself,” Sabalenka said. “Maybe I will take it back from her.”
And that final sentence could add an intriguing edge to Saturday’s showdown.

Sabalenka understands exactly why it happened. Her middle portion of the season was not strong enough, while Rybakina kept piling up the wins. The Kazakh has won 62 WTA-level matches since last year’s US Open, more than anyone else, while collecting four titles and 16 victories against Top 10 opponents.

So, Rybakina’s rise to the summit was hardly sudden. She beat Sabalenka in the WTA Finals Riyadh championship match last year, then produced another comeback against her in the Australian Open final in January.

The Kazakh later added Stuttgart to her trophy cabinet and survived a brutal stretch in Toronto, where four of her matches went three sets. By the time she reached the US Open, the gap that once separated her from Sabalenka had almost disappeared.

At the end of 2025, Sabalenka had 9,870 ranking points compared with Rybakina’s 4,350. Nine months later, the difference had fallen to just 414 points.
For Rybakina, however, the ranking has always been more a consequence than an obsession.

“The main focus for me, for the team, is to win the titles, and then the ranking will follow up,” she said. Now it has.

Rybakina will become the 30th woman to reach No. 1 since the WTA rankings began in 1975 and the first player from Kazakhstan to occupy the position. At 27 years and 89 days, she will also become the second-oldest first-time No. 1.

The achievement carries particular weight back home. Rybakina has spoken about how tennis has grown in Kazakhstan and how different it feels to return now and see children training at facilities across the country.

“It’s history, and I’m very proud representing Kazakhstan,” she said.

However, for the Belarusian, it’s high time to rise up when it matters the most.

Sabalenka is chasing her fifth Grand Slam title and a third consecutive championship in New York. Victory would make her the first woman since Serena Williams, between 2012 and 2014, to complete the three-peat at Flushing Meadows.

She has also reached an extraordinary eighth consecutive Grand Slam final on hard courts, surpassing the seven achieved by Steffi Graf, Martina Hingis and Novak Djokovic.

And perhaps most importantly, she knows exactly what awaits her.
Rybakina leads their recent momentum, but Sabalenka leads their overall rivalry 10-7, and the pair have already split their two previous Grand Slam finals.
So when Sabalenka says she is ready for the fight, there is plenty behind those words.

“If it’s Elena, it’s going to be really tough,” she said. “She’s a big server. She really improved over the years on the baseline game, so it’s going to be physically and mentally tough. As I said, I’m ready for the fight. I’m ready to do everything to get the win.”

Rybakina, meanwhile, knows she will need to raise her level after her semifinal victory over Coco Gauff.

“She’s an unbelievable player,” Rybakina said of Sabalenka. “I definitely need to step my game up and serve much better than today.”

Rybakina added that she had doubted whether she would even be able to play the US Open. Now she is one victory away from another major title and the No. 1 ranking already secured.

Sabalenka, meanwhile, has spent the past few months learning to shut out the noise surrounding her.

“I keep the same routine,” she said. “The last couple of months really teach me how to shut down the noise from outside.”

She will need that focus again. Because this time, the stakes extend beyond a trophy. Sabalenka is trying to defend her kingdom in New York while Rybakina is arriving as the woman who has already taken away her place at the top.

The No. 1 ranking may have changed hands. But Sabalenka has one chance left to remind everyone who still rules Flushing Meadows.