Elena Rybakina Advances to US Open Final Against Aryna Sabalenka
Elena Rybakina walked into Coco Gauff’s house, stared down the noise of New York and walked out with a place in the US Open final – and a date with the one woman who has turned this tournament into her personal property.
Aryna Sabalenka is waiting. Again.
Rybakina silences Gauff and Ashe
For a set, Arthur Ashe Stadium felt inevitable. Gauff feeding off a partisan crowd, Rybakina misfiring, the soundtrack a wall of American noise. The defending champion was on the ropes early, her timing off, her forehand leaking errors as Gauff dragged her into long, physical rallies.
Gauff absorbed the pace and sent it back with interest. She broke in the sixth game, dragged Rybakina into uncomfortable corners and rode the surge of energy from the stands, which included former first lady Michelle Obama. The first set, 6-3, felt like a statement: the home favourite had arrived, and the night belonged to her.
Then the match changed.
Rybakina steadied. The nerves she later admitted to were still there, but the decision was made: hit through the ball, live with the consequences. She began to read Gauff’s serve, especially the second delivery she had praised as “so heavy,” and stepped in on returns. The errors that had plagued her in the opener shifted across the net.
The fourth seed’s level dipped just enough. A loose game here, a short ball there. Rybakina pounced. She capitalised on a sloppy stretch from Gauff in the second set, broke, and suddenly the Kazakh’s groundstrokes started to sound different – cleaner, heavier, more certain. The match was level at one set all, and the crowd’s roar turned into a murmur of concern.
By the decider, the Australian Open champion was dictating. Rybakina’s power began to pin Gauff behind the baseline, the rallies now on her terms. She broke to lead 5-3, hammering through the court, seemingly closing in on the finish line.
Gauff, as she has so often this summer, refused to fold. She broke back, Ashe erupted, and for a moment the night threatened to tilt again. But the comeback stalled at the worst possible time. Serving to stay in it, Gauff blinked. Rybakina did not.
One more surge, one more break. A 3-6 6-4 6-4 victory sealed with the kind of cold clarity that wins majors. Her third Grand Slam title is now one match away.
“Of course there were nerves,” she admitted on court. “Coco is a great player. It’s always tough to play her… I took a deep breath, tried to talk positive with myself and just told myself I need to fight and try to show good tennis.”
For Gauff, the summer that had looked golden ended in a hard, immediate sting.
“Right now, it sucks,” she said. “My dad said ‘you accomplished so many great things this summer’. I was like I don’t care about the summer. So right now that’s where my head is at.”
Sabalenka’s three-peat charge rolls on
If Rybakina’s win was a grind, Sabalenka’s was a statement.
The top seed came out tight against Jessica Pegula, the American No 3 seed and 2024 runner-up, and for a while the match felt like a test of patience. Pegula started almost flawlessly, saving an early break point with a crisp forehand winner and keeping her game compact and controlled as Sabalenka’s temper flickered.
The Belarusian smashed her racket on the court after a double fault in the ninth game, frustration spilling over as her timing wavered. Pegula held firm in the 10th game, keeping the set on serve and the crowd firmly on her side.
Then Sabalenka found the switch.
From the baseline, she began to unload. The first set ended with the defending champion breaking on set point, ripping through Pegula’s resistance and finally landing her heavy artillery. Once in front, she did not ease off.
Her serve and forehand took over the night. Sabalenka finished with 29 winners and seven aces, numbers that tell the story of a player who trusted her biggest weapons and refused to back off. She surged to 3-1 in the second set with another ferocious forehand winner on break point, hammering from the baseline as Pegula’s earlier precision deserted her.
Errors crept into the American’s game at exactly the wrong time. The “near-pristine” start was a memory now, replaced by a string of costly mistakes that left her scrambling. Sabalenka broke again on match point to close out a 7-5 6-2 win, her final strike an unreturnable shot deep into Pegula’s court.
“I was so desperate for the win, I wanted it badly,” she said afterwards. You could tell. Every roar, every fist pump, every step into the court underlined it.
She walked off Arthur Ashe Stadium talking about feeling “mentally and physically really strong,” and the crowd that had started the night firmly behind the American left with a healthy respect for the force in front of them.
Pegula, still chasing a first Grand Slam title at 32, knew she had run into a storm.
“I don’t know who p****d her off today – hopefully it wasn’t me totally, but it might have been – I don’t know. She played insane. She played a super-high level. Honestly, I don’t really know if there was much I could do today.”
A final worthy of the stage
So it comes to this: Rybakina, hunting a third major, against Sabalenka, one win away from a rare US Open three-peat at Flushing Meadows.
Power against power. Two of the game’s most fearless ball-strikers, both convinced this hard court belongs to them. One has just silenced Coco Gauff and a partisan New York crowd. The other has crushed another American hope and looks like she’s gathering momentum with every round.
On Saturday night, something has to give.
