US Open 2023: Top Seeds Clash in Women's Semi-Finals
Coco Gauff needed only two words to capture the moment.
“Oh, wow.”
On a tour that has thrived on chaos and surprise champions, the US Open has produced something almost old‑fashioned: order at the very top. For the first time since 1975, the top four seeds in the women’s draw have all muscled their way into the semi-finals in New York.
Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Jessica Pegula and Gauff. Four heavyweights. Four survivors of three-set tests. One semi-final line-up that feels like a statement about where the women’s game is heading.
“It has felt fantastic the whole tournament,” former British number one Annabel Croft told BBC Radio 5 Live. “I just feel like I've been more enthused about looking forward to the match-ups this Grand Slam than any I can remember.”
She’s not alone.
Order at the top in a sport built on volatility
Since the start of 2020, the women’s majors have been a carousel. Thirteen different champions have lifted Grand Slam singles trophies in that span. On the men’s side, the number is just seven.
This fortnight hints at something different. The top four ranked players are not only here, they’re colliding in the business end of a major for the first time since Wimbledon 2009. The sense of randomness that has defined recent years hasn’t vanished, but the sport suddenly feels anchored by genuine, recurring rivalries.
“I just feel like there's lots of really big names now, big personalities going up against each other and it's really exciting,” Croft said. “We've been blessed with the amount of intriguing matches we've had. You're seeing these warriors out on court.”
Warriors, and storylines, everywhere you look.
Sabalenka v Pegula: a rivalry with scars
Top seed and two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka opens the semi-final programme against Jessica Pegula in Thursday’s first match (00:00 BST, Friday). They know each other’s games almost too well. This will be their 14th meeting.
Two of the most painful for Pegula have come right here.
Last year, Sabalenka came from behind in the US Open semi-finals to stop Pegula’s charge. This year, she went one better, denying the American a first major title in the 2024 final. The stakes are different now, but the emotional weight is the same. Pegula is still chasing that first Grand Slam crown. Sabalenka is hunting history, trying to become the first woman since Serena Williams in 2014 to win three straight US Open titles.
“It's fun to look at it like a rivalry. I think that's what motivates me,” Pegula said. “I know that she's definitely pushed me to become a better player, so I always respect and appreciate that aspect of our rivalry.”
Pegula has beaten Sabalenka four times on the WTA Tour. She’s proved she can live with the Belarusian’s power and intensity. What she has not yet done is crack her at a major. She called it a “hurdle” she has to clear. It’s exactly that: mental, physical, historical.
On the other side of the net, Sabalenka sounds like a player who relishes that kind of barrier.
“I'm loving playing against her because it's a battle, because it's a fight, and I love being under pressure and going through tough challenges,” said the four-time major winner, who is into her first semi-final since losing to Pegula at June’s Berlin Open.
Pegula arrived in New York with momentum from reaching the finals in Washington and Cincinnati. Sabalenka, though, carries a different kind of confidence: the knowledge that she has already defended this title twice and is still standing.
“I know she hasn't maybe had the best results this summer, but I know that she has a lot of confidence playing here at this tournament, and she's going for a three-peat,” Pegula added, fully aware of the mountain in front of her.
Rybakina rises to No 1 – but wants more
If Sabalenka’s reign has defined the last two years, Elena Rybakina is about to define the next chapter. By simply reaching the semi-finals, the second seed has guaranteed she will become world number one on Monday, ending Sabalenka’s 99-week stay at the top.
For many, that would be enough. For Rybakina, it is not.
She has brushed off the ranking as “just a number” and made it clear her focus is fixed on a third Grand Slam title. The timing matters. As BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller pointed out on BBC Radio 5 Live, “It's never quite the same if you become world number one having lost a Grand Slam final or semi-final just beforehand, so she will be trying to cap off an absolutely perfect couple of weeks by winning the title.”
To do that, she has to go through Coco Gauff in the second semi-final on Arthur Ashe Stadium. That means facing not just an opponent, but an arena.
Gauff, the home hope with a new perspective
Gauff is still only 22, but New York has already given her the full spectrum: the high of a US Open title in 2023, and the sting of two straight fourth-round exits afterwards. This run feels different to her, and she’s said as much.
“Sometimes you're just so focused on the now, now, now, because you want it now, and obviously you want to take advantage of your opportunities,” she said. “In the grand scheme of things, [I'm] definitely sitting here in a different mindset and perspective than I was last year.
“It inspires me a little bit more to keep working, as I see how much I have improved in a year.”
The numbers back up her belief, but the head-to-head with Rybakina tells a more nuanced story. Gauff leads 2-1, yet it was the Australian Open champion who landed the last blow, storming back from a set down to win their Canadian Open semi-final last month.
Gauff knows what’s coming: the flat, heavy serve, the clean first-strike aggression, the aces that can rip through even the loudest crowd noise.
“I'm going to have some aces hit on me and some winners hit on me, but I'm going to keep fighting and give it my all. That's all I can do,” she said.
That’s the promise from the home favourite. Relentless resistance, no matter how many times the ball whistles past her.
A semi-final line-up with real weight
Sabalenka chasing a three-peat. Pegula chasing a first. Rybakina stepping into the number one spot. Gauff trying to turn a new mindset into another New York coronation.
For years, the question around women’s tennis has been whether a core of dominant figures would emerge from the churn of new champions. At this US Open, the answer is walking out onto Arthur Ashe in the shape of the top four seeds.
The rankings board says they are the best players in the world. Now they get to prove it to each other.
