Rybakina New World Number One, US Open Semifinals Tonight
The Kazakh secured the WTA's top ranking with a win over Zheng, effective Monday, September 14. Both women's semifinals are played tonight at the US Open.
Elena Rybakina played the final point of the match on Arthur Ashe Stadium court on Wednesday night, clenched her fist and glanced briefly toward her box. There was no jumping, no tears, more the exhaustion of someone who knows she has just taken the first step toward what she actually wants. She beat China’s Qinwen Zheng 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, and that scoreline secured something no future match can take away: starting Monday, September 14, Rybakina is the new world number one.
“It’s tough to find words. It wasn’t maybe the highest level but I’m glad I pushed through,” Rybakina said after the match, admitting the tennis she played that night was not her best, but it was enough to get through the round and claim the top ranking.
The Kazakh was down a set, then woke up and took control, exactly as she tends to do under pressure. Her opponent had long been considered something of a comeback specialist at Flushing Meadows, but on Wednesday she had no answer once Rybakina, after some early errors, started pushing every game back toward the net on her opponent’s side.
Who Awaits Rybakina in the Semifinal?
In the other women’s quarterfinal, Coco Gauff pulled off something even harder. The defending 2023 champion started disastrously, dropping the first set 2-6 to Russia’s Mirra Andreeva, then saved two match points in that second set tiebreak before closing it out 2-6, 7-6(7), 6-2. The entire third set was a formality, Gauff played that cleanly once she turned the match around.
“Elena, she’s the new world number one, so it’s going to be a tough match. I’m looking forward to that battle. Those are the moments you live for in this sport,” Gauff said of the opponent waiting for her tonight.
That makes this the first time since one historic tournament that all four seeded players have reached the same grand slam semifinal, though sources disagree on exactly when that last happened. CBS Sports puts it at 1975, while a wire report carried by Asharq Al-Awsat says the last time was Wimbledon 2009. We are not independently verifying either figure here, both are passed along because the sources conflict.
Tonight’s schedule, Eastern time:
- Sabalenka vs. Pegula, from 7:00 p.m.
- Gauff vs. Rybakina, right after the first match
The men’s semifinals are tomorrow, Friday:
- Zverev vs. Khachanov, from 3:00 p.m.
- Shelton vs. Tiafoe, from 7:00 p.m.
German Machine, Russian Comeback
On the men’s side, top seed Alexander Zverev got the job done fast and without drama, 6-2, 7-5, 6-1 over the Netherlands’ Botic van de Zandschulp. The German started shakily on his own serve, then simply raised his level through the middle of the match and shut down any hope his opponent had of turning it around. It is his third semifinal at this tournament.
His opponent on Friday is Karen Khachanov, who advanced after Alexander Blockx retired with a rib injury. Sources disagree on the exact score at the moment of the retirement: CBS Sports lists it as 6-2, 7-5, 2-2, while the Sunday Guardian has 6-2, 7-5, 3-2. Either way, Khachanov was leading comfortably, and this is his first grand slam semifinal since 2022.
Americans at War With Each Other
The other men’s semifinal is a purely American affair, and it guarantees the host nation a finalist at its own grand slam for the first time in 23 years, since Andy Roddick won this tournament in 2003.
Ben Shelton took the hardest road to get there, eliminating defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in five sets, 6-7, 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6. The match finished at 3:33 a.m. Eastern time, the latest finish in US Open history, something we already covered in the piece “Shelton Ousts Alcaraz From US Open at 3:34 a.m.” Shelton played the best tennis of his career that night and now heads into the semifinal with enormous confidence.
His opponent Frances Tiafoe pulled off a similar feat, erasing a two set deficit against fellow American Alex Michelsen to win 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6. An earlier report that the match lasted exactly four hours and 40 minutes is not accurate; an independent check puts it closer to four hours and 38 to 39 minutes, though none of the sources we reviewed actually states an official time.
Shelton and Tiafoe play their semifinal on Friday from 7:00 p.m., a match that guarantees an American finalist no matter which of the two comes through.
The final weekend is already set: the women’s final is played Saturday, September 12 from 4:00 p.m., and the men’s final a day later, Sunday, September 13 from 2:00 p.m., both Eastern time. Rybakina arrives at that weekend already ranked world number one, and that alone is already the biggest story of this US Open, regardless of who ends up lifting the trophy.
