Zheng took the first set, the first Rybakina had lost in New York. Rybakina recovered in the second, then came through for a 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 win.\u00a0<\/p>\n
By the end of the afternoon, Rybakina had a place in the US Open semifinals and a scheduled appointment Monday with the PIF No. 1 ranking.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"30](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/30-WTA-World-No.1s-16x9.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
WTA\n <\/p>\n
The body of work behind World No. 1
\nA season of titles, finals and difficult wins<\/p>\n
Rybakina\u2019s ascent had been building since late last season.<\/p>\n
She won Ningbo in October, then closed the year by defeating Sabalenka in the WTA Finals Riyadh championship match. In January, she came back from 3-0 down in the deciding set to beat Sabalenka again and win the Australian Open.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Rybakina added Stuttgart in April. By Toronto, the season had taken on a more taxing shape: four three-set matches and nearly 11\u00bd hours on court before Iga Swiatek stopped her in the final. Their Cincinnati quarterfinal the following week ended with Rybakina retiring in the opening set.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was playing really well, I can say, in Toronto and even Cincinnati,\u201d Rybakina said. \u201cIn Toronto it was a lot of three-set matches, which also I think was tough. But at the same time, it built the confidence that you can win these difficult matches.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the close of 2025, the gap looked daunting: Sabalenka sat at 9,870 points, Rybakina at 4,350. Nine months later, it had shrunk to 414 — and, for the first time, Rybakina had placed the No. 1 ranking entirely within her control.<\/p>\n
Elena Rybakina: Stepping stones to World No. 1<\/p>\n
She had put herself in position. But, as Rybakina sees it, the ranking follows the work.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe No. 1 ranking is, of course, one of the goals,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I think the main focus for me, for the team, is to win the titles, and then the ranking will follow up. We go match by match, but obviously, we want to win the titles, the tournaments. So that, I would say, is the main goal.\u201d<\/p>\n
By the numbers: The past 52 weeks<\/p>\n
Since the end of the 2025 US Open, Rybakina has won 62 WTA-level matches, the most of any player. Jessica Pegula is next with 61.
Rybakina has reached six finals, tied with Pegula for the most in that span, and won four titles, more than any other player:<\/p>\n
Ningbo
\nWTA Finals Riyadh
\nAustralian Open
\nStuttgart<\/p>\n
She has beaten 16 Top 10 players in the past 52 weeks, six more than anyone else. Her 16-6 record against the Top 10 is a 72.7% winning percentage. Some more numbers:<\/p>\n
1,569 winners: Most on tour
\n394 aces: Most on tour
\n65.5% of break points saved: Best among players with at least 10 matches played<\/p>\n
Against the players who held No. 1<\/p>\n
Rybakina had beaten a reigning World No. 1 nine times before becoming No. 1 herself.<\/p>\n
Only Gabriela Sabatini, with 10, had done it more often before first reaching the top spot. Venus Williams also had nine.<\/p>\n
![\"Elena](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Rybakina-R2-Matthew-Stockman-Getty-2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Matthew Stockman\/Getty Images\n <\/p>\n
Rybakina is 9-8 against reigning No. 1 players. Among players with at least 10 matches against a reigning World No. 1, only Serena Williams and Steffi Graf have a better winning percentage.<\/p>\n
She has defeated nine of the last 10 women to hold the top ranking. Ashleigh Barty is the exception.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Rybakina will become the 30th World No. 1 since the rankings began in 1975, the first from Kazakhstan and the second-oldest first-time No. 1. Angelique Kerber was older when she reached the top in 2016.<\/p>\n
What World No. 1 means to Rybakina
\nA first for Kazakhstan<\/p>\n
Rybakina had not checked her phone by the time she sat down to speak Wednesday. She knew, though, what would be waiting when she did.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kazakhstan had its first World No. 1, and the messages would be coming from a country where she has watched tennis acquire a larger presence with each trip home.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s history, and I\u2019m very proud representing Kazakhstan,\u201d Rybakina said.<\/p>\n
She did not speak as someone who grew up anticipating this sort of afternoon. Tennis had been an after-school diversion, a place to meet friends and play, not a profession waiting to be chosen. At 17, she decided to give the game her full attention because she thought she might have a future in it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was a kid, I never thought that I\u2019m going to be professional or I\u2019m going to be even playing on these kind of tournaments on the biggest stages,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Now, when Rybakina goes back to Kazakhstan, she sees children at tennis facilities in every city she visits. The significance of becoming No. 1 has a public dimension there. It will change the prospects for players who have grown up watching her, and for those who will come afterward.<\/p>\n
A title still to play for<\/p>\n
Rybakina had only just come off the court after beating Zheng, with a semifinal to prepare for and an interview room full of questions about a ranking that would not become official until Monday. She spoke about it as something she would understand differently years from now.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like you will appreciate and think about it even more when you finish your career,\u201d she said. \u201cLike now, you still need to keep on going.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the moment, she is still in the middle of the tournament that brought her here.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never know how long you\u2019re going to stay,\u201d Rybakina said. \u201cAll my thoughts are just for the next match.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Sabalenka benchmark
\nHer 99-week run at No. 1 set the standard<\/p>\n
For nearly two years, the top line belonged to Aryna Sabalenka.<\/p>\n
Her path there was not entirely linear. Sabalenka first reached No. 1 after the 2023 US Open, when defending champion Swiatek lost to Jelena Ostapenko in the fourth round. Sabalenka then lost the final to Coco Gauff, and Swiatek reclaimed the ranking eight weeks later at the WTA Finals.<\/p>\n
But Sabalenka\u2019s second stay was a different kind of run. It began on Oct. 21, 2024, after her first US Open title, and it will end Monday after 99 consecutive weeks.<\/p>\n
Along the way, she won the 2025 Australian Open, defended her US Open title and finished both 2024 and 2025 as year-end No. 1. The 99-week stretch will stand as the sixth-longest uninterrupted stay at No. 1 in history. Only Steffi Graf, Serena Williams, Martina Navratilova, Ashleigh Barty and Chris Evert have held it longer without interruption.<\/p>\n
Her 107 weeks at No. 1 overall will rank 10th all time, moving her past Lindsay Davenport\u2019s 98. The numbers put Sabalenka in rare company, but they do not account for the daily requirement of staying there.<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably they don’t understand how hard it is mentally and physically to keep up the level and mentally stay kind of like disconnected from that,\u201d Sabalenka said earlier this week. \u201cBecause the moment you start thinking about that, like, you lose it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Will Sabalenka have the last word?<\/p>\n
Rybakina\u2019s ascent has come at Sabalenka\u2019s expense. She defeated her in the 2025 WTA Finals championship match in Riyadh, again in the Australian Open final in Melbourne and now will dislodge her from the No. 1 ranking after 99 consecutive weeks.<\/p>\n
But Sabalenka gave herself a chance to answer back Tuesday, surviving Noskova in a third-set tiebreak to reach the semifinals. She will play Pegula next, an opponent she has beaten at the US Open in each of the past two years.<\/p>\n
Rybakina still has to navigate the other half. But if both make the final, it would be an apt denouement to a tournament that has already reshaped the top of the game: the new No. 1 across the net from the player she replaced, and Sabalenka with the chance to answer Rybakina where it would matter most.<\/p>\n
Asked whether she would accept Rybakina becoming No. 1 if it meant a third straight US Open title, Sabalenka did not hesitate: \u201cYes, I\u2019ll be more than happy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Asked if that would mean more to her, Sabalenka smiled at the prospect. \u201cYes, three-peat. Sounds great.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK — A little more than a week ago, while the US Open field was going through…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":765437,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,1602,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-765436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-text","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=765436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/765437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=765436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=765436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=765436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}