Tennis

Rybakina Claims US Open Title and Ends Sabalenka’s No. 1 Reign

By Hugo Brennan

Rybakina Claims US Open Title and Ends Sabalenka’s No. 1 Reign

Elena Rybakina left New York with the US Open trophy, the season’s second hard-court major title and, for the first time, the World No. 1 ranking. The Kazakh star’s run through Flushing Meadows closed the 2026 Grand Slam calendar and ended Aryna Sabalenka’s 99-week stay at the summit of the PIF WTA Rankings.

US Open champion Rybakina becomes World No. 1

Rybakina, now the 30th player to hold the WTA singles No. 1 position, climbed from No. 2 after winning her third major singles crown. It was also her second Slam victory of 2026, following her Australian Open success in January.

Her route to the title settled a crowded ranking battle that had also involved Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff. Rybakina assured herself of the top spot by reaching the semifinals, then came through consecutive three-set matches against Gauff and Sabalenka to lift the trophy. She had not won a title since Stuttgart in April.

The final repeated the result of the Australian Open championship match, where Rybakina had also beaten Sabalenka. The pair were the leading forces at the two hard-court majors this season, with Rybakina taking both finals.

Rybakina is one of three women to have won three titles this year. Sabalenka and Roland Garros champion Mirra Andreeva are the others.

Siniakova adds another doubles landmark

Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend captured their first US Open women’s doubles title as a partnership, completing the Career Grand Slam together. The New York title added to their collection of major trophies across all four Slam events.

For Siniakova, the achievement carried an additional historical distinction. She became the first player of the Open Era to complete the women’s doubles Career Slam with two separate partners, having already done so alongside Barbora Krejcikova in 2022.

The Czech also reached 200 total weeks as doubles World No. 1. That moves her beyond Liezel Huber’s 199 weeks into sole possession of second place on the all-time list. Martina Navratilova remains first with 237 weeks at No. 1.

Ukrainian contingent reaches new heights

Marta Kostyuk’s fourth-round appearance at the US Open brought her into the Top 10 for the first time. The 24-year-old moved one position from No. 11 to No. 10 after a season that has also included semifinal runs at Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

Kostyuk is only the second Ukrainian woman of the Open Era to enter the Top 10, after Elina Svitolina. Svitolina rose two places to No. 7, while Kostyuk became the third debutant in the elite group in 2026 following Victoria Mboko and Linda Noskova.

Yuliia Starodubtseva also made a breakthrough, jumping 15 spots from No. 58 to No. 43 after reaching the third round in New York. Her second-round win over Maria Sakkari came after she erased three match points, and the result delivered her first Top 50 ranking.

Ukraine now has six players inside the Top 50: Svitolina, Kostyuk, No. 41 Oleksandra Oliynykova, No. 42 Daria Snigur, Starodubtseva and No. 47 Anhelina Kalinina. Kostyuk, Oliynykova, Snigur and Starodubtseva all set personal ranking bests this week.

Zheng’s qualifying run restores her Top 100 place

Zheng Qinwen’s US Open campaign was among the most dramatic of the fortnight. The 2024 Olympic champion had to negotiate qualifying to enter the main draw, her first appearance in a Grand Slam qualifying event since the 2022 Australian Open.

The Chinese player had endured a difficult return from elbow surgery. She first attempted a comeback in Beijing last September, but did not fully resume her schedule until Doha in February. Through Toronto, her record stood at 11-13, including a qualifying defeat to Lanlana Tararudee. Her ranking had fallen from a career-best No. 4 to No. 160 in June.

In New York, Zheng recovered from a set down against 16-year-old Kristina Liutova in the first round, then defeated Yulia Putintseva in three sets. Her third-round match against Madison Keys produced an extraordinary escape: Zheng trailed 5-0 in the deciding set, saved a match point and turned the contest around.

She repeated the feat of winning a set from 5-0 down in the fourth round against Iga Swiatek, upsetting the former No. 1 to reach the quarterfinals. It was Zheng’s first victory over a Top 10 opponent since she beat Sabalenka in the 2025 Rome quarterfinals.

The 24-year-old surged 69 positions from No. 121 to No. 52, returning to the Top 100.

Former leaders and major winners return upward

Karolina Pliskova, who began 2026 ranked outside the Top 1,000 while returning from foot surgery, moved back inside the Top 50 for the first time since February 2025. The former World No. 1 rose 12 places to No. 45 after reaching the US Open second round, where her opening victory over Hanne Vandewinkel required the save of a match point.

Sofia Kenin re-entered the Top 100 at No. 100, improving 10 places. The 2020 Australian Open champion beat Venus Williams in an all-American clash between major champions before exiting in round two.

Sorana Cirstea continued her late-career rise after stating that 2026 will be her last season on tour. The 36-year-old reached the US Open fourth round for a second time and climbed two places to a career-high No. 15.

Emma Navarro moved up three spots to No. 24 after reaching the fourth major quarterfinal of her career. Her New York run included a third-round win over Karolina Muchova, her third Top 10 victory of the season.

Diane Parry advanced one place to No. 30, earning a first Top 30 ranking after following her maiden WTA title in Monterrey with a second-round appearance at the US Open.

WTA 125 titles on hard court and clay

Three WTA 125 tournaments were played in the week after the US Open: Barranquilla in Colombia on hard courts, plus clay-court events in Montreux, Switzerland, and Antalya, Turkey.

Liu takes Barranquilla title

Claire Liu defeated Anna Blinkova 6-0, 2-6, 7-5 to claim the Barranquilla title, her second WTA 125 trophy after Paris in 2022. The 26-year-old American climbed 15 places to No. 96, her first return to the Top 100 since February 2024.

Blinkova edged one place higher to No. 94, while semifinalist Leolia Jeanjean made a 19-place jump to No. 108.

Ferro extends winning sequence in Montreux

Fiona Ferro beat Noma Noha Akugue 6-1, 6-2 in the Montreux final to stretch her winning run to 10 matches. The former No. 39 had won the Saint-Palais W50 title the previous week, giving her back-to-back trophies.

The Frenchwoman, 29, has won 18 of her past 21 matches, a stretch that also included runner-up finishes at the Palermo WTA 125 and Hechingen W75 in July. She climbed 34 positions to No. 107. Noha Akugue moved 13 places to a career-high No. 124.

Dencheva breaks through in Antalya

Teenage qualifier Rositsa Dencheva produced the surprise run in Antalya, beating top seed Francesca Jones 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-4 in the second round before defeating Alevtina Ibragimova 7-5, 6-4 in the final.

The 19-year-old Bulgarian, a former Top 20 junior, improved her 2026 record to 43-11 and collected the biggest title of her career. She leapt 79 places from No. 280 to a new peak of No. 201. Ibragimova, who reached the second round at Iasi in July on her tour-level debut, rose 53 spots to a best-ever No. 166.

Further rankings movers after Flushing Meadows

  • Kimberly Birrell rose 15 places to a career-high No. 56 after saving a match point against Petra Marcinko en route to the US Open second round.

  • Kamilla Rakhimova climbed 16 positions to No. 76. Her third-round showing marked the fourth time the 25-year-old has reached that stage at a major. Representing Uzbekistan, she became the third player from the country to make a Slam third round and the first since Akgul Amanmuradova at the 2011 US Open.

  • Kristina Liutova moved 11 places to a career-high No. 114. The 16-year-old, who won Memphis on her WTA debut, extended her winning streak to nine matches by qualifying for her first major before taking Zheng to three sets.

  • Himeno Sakatsume climbed 29 spots to a personal-best No. 115. The Japanese player qualified in New York and recorded her first Grand Slam main-draw win over Anhelina Kalinina before reaching round two.

  • Polina Iatcenko advanced 22 places to a career-high No. 138. In her first major main draw, she defeated Renata Zarazua 4-6, 6-4, 7-6[7] in three hours and 27 minutes, the tournament’s longest match.

  • Alexandra Shubladze rose 33 positions to No. 157 after winning the Guiyang W50, her fifth World Tennis title of 2026. The 21-year-old owns a 48-13 record this season.

  • Joanna Garland moved 34 places to No. 168 after taking the Tianjin W75 title two weeks earlier, a result that returned the Chinese Taipei player to the Top 200.

  • Sloane Stephens jumped 40 spots to No. 169. The former US Open champion beat Clara Tauson for her first Grand Slam main-draw victory since Wimbledon 2024 and returned to the Top 200 for the first time since April 2025.

  • Lucie Havlickova climbed 43 places to a career-high No. 183 after qualifying for her first major main draw. The former junior No. 1 had been unranked when she returned in June 2025 following a year away from the sport.

  • Julieta Pareja rose 33 spots to a personal-best No. 255 after reaching the final round of US Open qualifying. The 17-year-old American is the highest-ranked player born in 2009.

  • Clara Burel made a 115-place rise to No. 301 as her recovery from an ACL injury continued. The former No. 42 reached US Open qualifying round two, the Saint-Palais W50 final and the Montreux quarterfinals across three weeks.

  • Nadia Podoroska moved 132 places to No. 317. Returning from a hip injury after beginning the year outside the Top 1,000, the former Roland Garros semifinalist beat Simona Waltert for her first major main-draw victory since the 2024 Australian Open, then reached round two in Barranquilla.

  • Hannah Klugman rose 97 places to a career-high No. 342. The 17-year-old Briton won the first professional title of her career at the Leiria W50 two weeks ago.

  • Anastasija Cvetkovic surged 251 positions to No. 557 after coming through qualifying to win the Verbier W35, her first title at that level. The 18-year-old Serbian is a former junior No. 8.

  • Kristina Penickova improved 122 places to No. 627. The 17-year-old American upset Elizabeth Mandlik in US Open qualifying before losing a three-set match to Harriet Dart, then partnered twin sister Annika to win the girls’ doubles title.

SEO Title: Elena Rybakina Reaches World No. 1 After US Open Title

SEO Description: Elena Rybakina becomes the 30th WTA World No. 1 after beating Aryna Sabalenka for the US Open title, while Katerina Siniakova, Marta Kostyuk and Zheng Qinwen also make major rankings moves.