New York (AFP) – Elena Rybakina denied Aryna Sabalenka a third straight US Open title on Saturday, punctuating her rise to world number one with a victory over the player she’s replacing at the summit. Rybakina, already assured of supplanting Sabalenka atop the rankings by reaching the semi-finals in New York, triumphed 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 to claim her third Grand Slam title. She won her first at Wimbledon in 2022 and beat Sabalenka in the Australian Open title to claim her second in January.
“I can’t find words right now, honestly,” Rybakina said. “I don’t expect nothing like this coming to this tournament. I’ve been dealing with a little bit with an injury, but somehow everything aligned together on my side.” She ended Sabalenka’s 20-match winning streak in Flushing Meadows, where she hadn’t lost since falling to Coco Gauff in the 2023 final.
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“I wish I could have performed a little better,” Sabalenka told the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd, her voice breaking, “but I guess next year.” 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, who after a brief hug with Rybakina at the net smashed her racket as she sat in her courtside chair while Rybakina absorbed the cheers of the crowd. “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. The two biggest hitters in the women’s game came out swinging. Rybakina, owner of perhaps the most fearsome serve on the WTA Tour, was struggling to put her first serve in play, but it was devastating when she did.
She pressured Sabalenka’s serve throughout, piling up a dozen break points and converting three. Rybakina seized control in the fifth game of the opening set, relentlessly pushing Sabalenka back with her deep groundstrokes. Unsettled, Sabalenka double faulted on break point, then smacked a ball skyward to draw a code violation warning for ball abuse. Sabalenka was looking increasingly desperate.
Serving to extend the set at 5-3, she crushed an overhead several feet beyond the baseline and had to regroup before closing the game with an ace and a service winner. But Rybakina wouldn’t be denied, and despite a hint of nerves with her first double fault of the match, she polished off the set 6-4 with a screaming backhand winner before Sabalenka sailed a shot long to end the deciding rally.
The second set started much the same, Sabalenka saving a pair of break points in the third game before thumping down a massive serve to hold. She had yet to make any headway against Rybakina’s serve, but she seemed to have found something on her own, twice holding to love as she took a 5-4 lead. Sabalenka’s first break points of the match gave her a chance to close out the set, but she couldn’t convert. Nevertheless, Sabalenka was gaining in confidence. She held for a 6-5 lead then broke Rybakina with authority to force a third set—but it proved only a brief reprieve.
© 2024 AFP
