Elena Rybakina will ascend to world number one on Monday after she recovered from a set down to beat Zheng Qinwen in the US Open quarter-finals, ending Aryna Sabalenka's 99-week run at the top.
The Story in Pictures
Rybakina lost the first set 3-6 but rallied to win 6-1 6-4, saving a break point in the deciding set as she secured the semi-final place. The 27-year-old becomes the first Kazakhstani man or woman to reach the number one singles ranking.
Sabalenka’s streak, which began on 21 October 2024, lasted 99 weeks and ranks as the sixth-longest run in WTA history. Rybakina had been pressing Sabalenka for the position throughout 2026, arriving in New York among three players in contention alongside Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff. The others needed to win the title and have Rybakina exit before the semi-finals to overtake her.
Rybakina downplayed the ranking as an end in itself, saying, "It's just a number right now. My goal is to win the tournaments which I play." She added, "It's an amazing achievement, but you know how quickly everything can change in tennis ranking-wise." The priority for her remains the US Open trophy.
The run that produced this milestone has been one of Rybakina's most consistent periods. She played 60 matches so far this year and won 47, a total bettered only by American world number three Jessica Pegula on the WTA Tour, and she has 34 hard-court wins matched only by Pegula. Her serve has been a defining weapon, she leads the tour with 394 aces in 2026. After an 87% success rate on first serve and seven aces in her fourth-round win over Naomi Osaka, Osaka conceded, "The immediate thought that I had in my head when she hit the ace, I was, like, 'well, I can't really do anything about it.'"
Rybakina's path to the summit included winning the season-ending WTA Finals and the Australian Open earlier this year, and a title in Stuttgart. She also managed a left ankle problem that forced her to retire from her Cincinnati quarter-final against Iga Swiatek, saying the injury had been "bothering me for a long period of time" but that she felt it was "under control." She acknowledged her preparation before the US Open "wasn't great" because she could not train much the week before the tournament.
On Thursday Rybakina will face either Coco Gauff or Mirra Andreeva in the semi-finals, while Sabalenka meets Jessica Pegula, meaning the top two players could still clash in the final. The immediate consequence is clear: Kazakhstan will have its first ever world number one, while the US Open and the remainder of the year will determine whether the ranking endures.
