The last thing Elena Rybakina wanted to do was walk. For several days after rolling her ankle in the Cincinnati Open quarter-finals, the 27-year-old could barely stand, and her participation at the US Open was in serious doubt. On Saturday night at Arthur Ashe Stadium, she walked off the court as the world number one, having dismantled two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka 6-4 5-7 6-2 to claim her first title in New York and the third Grand Slam of her career.
Rybakina had already secured the top ranking by reaching the final, regardless of the result. But the win confirmed the shift in the women's game with a performance that leaned on the ice-cool composure that has come to define her. Sabalenka, the player she replaces at the summit, was the opposite: fraught, flustered, and unable to stop the loose shots creeping back into her game at the worst moments.
The opening set was a study in restraint. Rybakina's first serve, usually her biggest weapon, was misfiring, but her returning game was devastating enough to compensate. She broke Sabalenka on a double fault at the decisive moment, punishing the Belarusian's decision to go for too much on her second delivery. Sabalenka's groundstrokes found their range in the second set as Rybakina's level dipped slightly, and she took her third opportunity to force a decider, swarming over the Kazakh's second serve in the 12th game.
But the third set exposed the fragility that has haunted Sabalenka in big moments. The negativity returned, the loose shots reappeared, and Rybakina's deep returning pinned her to the baseline. A break for 2-1 gave the incoming number one the platform she needed, and she grew in stature from there. There was a flicker of nerves when she double-faulted on her first championship point, but she reset and hammered down an ace to seal it. A brief smile crossed her face, a rare show of emotion from a player who keeps her feelings locked down.
"I was coming here for the last 10 years and it was never successful. I'm falling in love with New York more and more," Rybakina said.
The run to the title was improbable given what happened in Cincinnati. Rybakina was unable to walk for days after the injury, and her fitness for the tournament was a genuine question mark. She cruised through her opening four matches on the strength of her serve, then had to dig deep against Zheng Qinwen and home favourite Coco Gauff, losing the first set in both matches before fighting back. Against Sabalenka she showed both sides of her game, bullying her from the baseline and grinding when required. The French Open is now the only major missing from her collection.
"Some magic is happening. I was unlucky with injury and just going day by day," Rybakina told Sky Sports. "We didn't know how it was going to be so I'm super happy and still can't believe it."
For Sabalenka, there was the added sting of knowing a win would have softened the blow of losing the top ranking. The chance to beat the woman who had taken it from her was extra motivation, but the pressure was visible from the start. She yelled, flung her arms, bounced her racquet off the court and hid underneath her towel, but the emotional release never translated into sustained control. This was her fifth defeat in nine major finals, and it adds weight to the argument that she has underachieved at the biggest tournaments given her dominance across the rest of the WTA Tour.
"The last thing I want to do right now is give a speech but I will try my best," an emotional Sabalenka told the 24,000 crowd on Arthur Ashe Stadium. "I wish I could have performed a little bit better, but I guess next year."
According to BBC Sports.