Rybakina triumphs in US Open, denies Sabalenka three-peat

Elena Rybakina denied Aryna Sabalenka a third straight US Open title on Saturday, marking her rise to world number one with a victory over the player she is replacing at the summit.

Rybakina secured top spot in the world rankings by reaching the semi-finals in New York and went on to triumph 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 to claim her third Grand Slam title. 

She won her first at Wimbledon in 2022 and also beat Sabalenka in January's Australian Open final to claim her second.

"It feels amazing," Rybakina said. "It's still so difficult to process what happened. Too much achievements these few weeks. I'm super happy, very proud of all the work. It's just amazing."

She ended Sabalenka's 20-match winning streak at Flushing Meadows, where the 2024 and 2025 champion hadn't lost since falling to Coco Gauff in the 2023 final.

"I wish I could have performed a little better," Sabalenka told the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd.

She had been vying to become just the third woman, after Chris Evert and Serena Williams, to win three straight US Open titles.

The 28-year-old from Belarus clawed back courageously in the second set, breaking Rybakina for the first time in the final game to force the third. But with her trademark aplomb, Rybakina roared back to finish off a frustrated Sabalenka.

"I'm obviously not really happy with the level I played today," Sabalenka said. "But she served incredible. She played really aggressive, great tennis."

"She was simply a better player today than me," added Sabalenka, who will end the year without a major title for the first time since 2022.

On the junior level at the US Open, China's Sun Xinran beat Anna Pushkareva 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 to capture the first Grand Slam singles title of her career. The top-ranked junior had already experienced just about everything a 16-year-old could possibly want from a summer of Slams, and is now a champion after finishing runner-up at the French Open and Wimbledon this year.

The final was a rematch of Sun's painful Wimbledon final where she lost to Pushkareva in a 2-hour, 23-minute battle that became the longest girls singles final in Wimbledon history.

After two consecutive Grand Slam final defeats, the Chinese was able to use her experience to better handle the nerves and she performed well to take the first set 6-4. But the fifth-seeded Pushkareva fought back in the second and won it 6-4 to force a decider.

Sun regrouped and saved break point in the first game. The youngster was able to convert six of her eight break points during the match and she dominated the third set 6-0 to claim the title.