NEW YORK — In a battle between the top two ranked players in women's tennis, Elena Rybakina ended Aryna Sabalenka’s bid for a third straight US Open title with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 victory in the final, cementing her status as the newly crowned No. 1-ranked player in the world.
Sabalenka was attempting to become the third woman in the Open Era, and the first since Serena Williams in 2012-2014, to win three or more consecutive US Open titles, but was plagued by a flurry of unforced errors, committing 14 of her 35 in the first set alone.
The final was a rematch of the Australian Open final in January, which Rybakina won, but Sabalenka beat the No. 2 in the Indian Wells final and in the Miami semifinals. This was their 15th time playing on a hard court,
with Rybakina now taking an 8-7 lead in those meetings.
Rybakina got only 27% of her first serves in winning the first set, but found the sweet spots on the court, where it was easy for Sabalenka to make mistakes. After Sabalenka played perhaps her best stretch of tennis by putting Jessica Pegula away in the semifinals, old habits started to creep in, leading her down the path to defeat.
A double-fault handed Rybakina the fifth game of the set, and Sabalenka’s emotions got the best of her, and she hit the ball high in the stands, where it was caught by a fan. The four-time Grand Slam winner continued to be demonstrative throughout the match, at times throwing her hands in the air, talking to herself, dropping her racket, and pointing toward her coaching box in frustration.
The service games for both players were working in the second set, and neither player could break through the first 11 games. Sabalenka twice had the chance to end the set in the 10th game, but failed to convert, losing the game with four straight errors. Another opportunity to break was successful, sending the match to the decisive third set.
Rybakina, a 27-year-old born in Russia and representing Kazakhstan, sprinted out to a 4-1 lead in the final set, and when Sabalenka couldn't handle a return on match point, scoring an ace, she had captured her third Grand Slam title. She took home $5.5 million for winning the tournament, and Sabalenka, who smashed her racket at the end of the defeat, earned $2.8 million for her runner-up finish.
Sabalenka had held the top ranking for 99 consecutive weeks and entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed, but after Rybakina’s quarterfinal win over Qinwen Zheng, she vaulted to the top of the rankings and was going to hold on to it, no matter what happened at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Elena Rybakina wins US Open, denying Aryna Sabalenka three-peat
