Rybakina Advances to US Open Final After Defeating Gauff

Elena Rybakina walked into Coco Gauff’s house, stared down the noise, and walked out with a place in the US Open final.

On a feverish night at Arthur Ashe Stadium, with a partisan crowd roaring for the defending champion and American hope, the Kazakh refused to blink. She overturned a slow start and a hostile atmosphere to beat Gauff 3-6 6-4 6-4 and book a blockbuster showdown with Aryna Sabalenka for the title at Flushing Meadows.

Across the draw, Sabalenka had already done her part, dismantling Jessica Pegula 7-5 6-2 to move within one win of a rare New York three‑peat.

Now the two biggest hitters in the women’s game will collide for the trophy.

Rybakina drowns out Gauff and Ashe

From the first ball, this felt like Gauff’s night.

The world No 3 soaked up Rybakina’s pace, counter-punching with depth and drawing error after error as the Kazakh struggled to find her range. Gauff’s defence, backed by a crowd that included former first lady Michelle Obama, turned into attack as she broke in the sixth game and surged through the opening set.

Rybakina admitted the nerves were real. She could feel the weight of the occasion, the noise, the pressure of facing a reigning champion on home soil. Gauff’s serve, especially the heavy second delivery, kept her pinned back and out of rhythm.

But Rybakina refused to let the night run away from her.

She slowed everything down between points, reset, and began to hit through the ball instead of guiding it. The backhand started to bite. The first serve, so often her barometer, began to land with purpose. When Gauff’s level dipped in the second set, Rybakina pounced, capitalising on a run of loose errors from the fourth seed to drag the match level.

The tone of the contest flipped.

Rybakina, the Australian Open champion and already a two-time major winner, began to dictate with the clean, flat power that has become her trademark. She stepped inside the baseline, took time away, and forced Gauff into ever-riskier patterns just to stay in the rallies.

The pressure finally told in the decider. Rybakina broke to lead 5-3, seemingly closing in on the finish line. Gauff, fuelled by the crowd, hit back immediately with a break of her own, one last surge of resistance from a champion refusing to surrender her crown.

But the comeback stopped there.

Serving to stay in the match, Gauff could not hold off Rybakina’s final assault. The Kazakh broke again, sealing the win with the same fearless aggression that had turned the match on its head and silenced the stadium.

For Gauff, who has put together another outstanding summer, the defeat cut deep. She admitted as much, saying that all the positives of recent months meant little in the immediate sting of a semi-final loss on home ground.

Rybakina, though, marches on, still on course for a third Grand Slam title and now one win away from adding the US Open to a growing, serious collection.

Sabalenka smothers Pegula to stay on three‑peat track

If Rybakina had to wrestle the crowd and the moment, Sabalenka simply overpowered hers.

The top seed unleashed a barrage of first-strike tennis to subdue Pegula, finishing with 29 winners and seven aces. Once she settled, the defending champion played with the kind of ferocity that leaves opponents clinging on and hoping for a dip that never comes.

Pegula, last year’s runner-up and still chasing a maiden major, started the contest with clarity and control. She saved an early break point with a precise forehand winner and looked composed as Sabalenka’s frustration bubbled over. The Belarusian smashed her racket to the court after a double fault in the ninth game, a flash of the volatility that has sometimes undone her in the past.

Pegula held for 5-5 and briefly had the match where she wanted it.

Then Sabalenka locked in.

She carved out set point and broke from the baseline, ripping through Pegula’s defences to snatch the opener. From there, the match tilted sharply in one direction. Sabalenka’s serve and forehand began to dictate almost every rally, her weight of shot pushing Pegula further and further behind the baseline.

A forehand winner on break point gave Sabalenka a 3-1 lead in the second set. The pattern was set. Pegula’s earlier precision deserted her, a cluster of costly errors appearing just as Sabalenka’s level soared. The top seed broke again on match point, closing with an unreturnable strike that buried any faint hope of an American comeback.

Sabalenka walked off Ashe talking about how strong and confident she feels, both mentally and physically, and the crowd – initially pulling for Pegula – had little choice but to acknowledge the quality they had just watched.

Pegula, 32 and still searching for that elusive first Slam, summed it up bluntly. Faced with Sabalenka in that mood, she felt there was almost nothing she could do.

Now New York gets the final it deserves: Sabalenka, chasing history and a third straight US Open crown, against Rybakina, the quiet destroyer who just walked through Coco Gauff’s wall of sound and came out stronger.

Power versus power. Champion versus champion.

Only one of them leaves Ashe with the trophy.