Rybakina has won her third Grand Slam title and her first U.S. Open crown.The Athletic Live Team September 12, 2026 at 11:41 PM EDTElena Rybakina has won the 2026 U.S. Open title Getty ImagesRybakina defeats Sabalenka, wins U.S. Open — ReactionElena Rybakina has won the 2026 U.S. Open women’s title, earning her third Grand Slam title.Rybakina defeated Aryna Sabalenka in three sets to earn her first U.S. Open title in impressive fashion at Arthur Ashe Stadium.She won the first set 6-4 despite a first-serve percentage of just 27 percent before the No. 1 seed bounced back to force a third set, taking the second frame 7-5. Rybakina left little doubt in the final set though, taking six of the eight games to capture the title.While the outcome of today’s match did not change this reality, Rybakina will become the No. 1 ranked women’s player in the world effective Monday.Join the conversation in our discuss tab or email us: live@theathletic.comSKIP ADVERTISEMENTAdvertisementLooking ahead to tomorrow Getty ImagesOne singles final down at the U.S. Open. One more to go.After Elena Rybakina’s three-set victory over Aryna Sabalenka, attention shifts to the men’s singles final tomorrow at Flushing Meadows.Alexander Zverev, the No. 1 seed, is trying to win his second Slam of 2026, like Rybakina. Standing in his way is American Ben Shelton (8), trying to complete a run for the ages.Shelton defeated reigning U.S. Open champion Carlos Alcaraz (2) at 3:33 a.m. in the quarterfinals. He followed that up with a four-set win over American compatriot Frances Tiafoe (11).If Shelton wins, it would break the American drought of 23 years for a man to win a Grand Slam, the last being Andy Roddick.It should be a fun day of tennis and we at The Athletic are excited to bring you wall-to-wall live coverage.The 2026 Slam winners on the WTA Tour Getty ImagesThe year began with Elena Rybakina earning her second Grand Slam, where she outlasted Aryna Sabalenka in three sets to win the Australian Open. It was a remarkable comeback where Rybakina rallied from down a break in the third set to win. During the French Open, Mirra Andreeva broke through to win her first Grand Slam. She trounced Maja Chwalińska, one of the surprise finalists in the history of the tournament, in straight sets. At Wimbledon, it was an all Czech matchup where Linda Nosková prevailed against Karolína Muchová in three sets. Then, in New York, it bookended with Rybakina beating Sabalenka again in three sets.A memorable Grand Slam season on the WTA Tour is now over. And it’s Rybakina, the lone player to win multiple Slams. Getty ImagesSearching for the full quote from Aryna Sabalenka regarding her rivalry with Elena Rybakina?Look no further!Winners to unforced errors tell the tale Getty ImagesSometimes, all you need to do is look at the plus-minus with winners to unforced errors and it will tell you the tale of the match.Elena Rybakina was a +12 (36 winners to 24 unforced errors). Sabalenka was a -3 (32 winners to 35 unforced errors).It encapsulates a match where Rybakina was the better player, wearing down Sabalenka, who got frustrated as the match progressed and increased her mistakes. WATCH: Point of the matchI thought this point was one of my favorites in the match. Elena Rybakina bringing Aryna Sabalenka forward before sealing it on a forehand volley winner. It was one of many points where Rybakina dictated play and Sabalenka was fighting but ultimately couldn’t prevail.SKIP ADVERTISEMENTAdvertisementSabalenka-Rybakina serving breakdown Getty ImagesBelow were the serving stats for Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina in today’s match: First serves in: Sabalenka: 58 percentRybakina: 47 percentFirst serve points won: Sabalenka: 69 percentRybakina: 85 percent Second serve points won: Sabalenka: 50 percentRybakina: 59 percent Rybakina improved her serve as the match went on. Remember, she won the opening set despite serving at 27 percent.It shows you that once she landed her serves in, Sabalenka didn’t have much of an answer. Partly it was due to Sabalenka’s unforced errors but also it was Rybakina’s blazing power from the baseline. This is how Rybakina won a lot of matches this summer. Didn’t have a high first serve percentage but utilized her natural aggressiveness to overwhelm opponents. What a year for Kazakhstan sports Getty ImagesIt’s been a tremendous year for Kazakhstan sports.Back in February at the Milan Cortina Olympics, Mikhail Shaidorov shocked the world when he won Olympic gold in the men’s singles figure skating after Ilia Malinin finished eighth.Now, Elena Rybakina has two Grand Slam titles in 2026 and is the new world No. 1 on Monday. A lot of athletic success to celebrate in that country. Sabalenka: 'It's really tough to control your emotions' Getty ImagesThere were a lot of frustrating moments today for Aryna Sabalenka during her final match. She batted a ball into the crowd plus smashed her racket.Sabalenka was candid in her post-match press conference about battling those emotions. 💬: “It's really tough to control your emotions when you lose in the final of the Grand Slam and when you were trying to go for three-peat. So I just wanted to let it go, because if I would hold it inside, right now or here or there on the court, I wouldn't be able to say a word or I would just go not really nice over there.“So I just wanted to let all of that aggression and disappointment go outside.”Sabalenka speaks on Rybakina rivalry Getty ImagesDuring her post-match press conference, Aryna Sabalenka spoke about her rivalry with Elena Rybakina and why it’s great for women’s tennis. 💬: “We have a great rivalry. We play a lot of great matches, great finals this season. “Her serve is amazing, the way she able to step in and overpower you on court, and especially if it's a U.S. Open court where it's super fast, definitely huge advantage for her.”How today's match impacts career head-to-head Getty ImagesAryna Sabalenka still leads the career head to head against Elena Rybakina. She now has a 10-8 record after today’s U.S. Open loss. But the jarring head to head record is in finals. Rybakina is now 5-2 against Sabalenka in finals. In Grand Slam finals, Rybakina is 2-1. It seems like Rybakina is gaining more confidence playing Sabalenka in the matches that decide titles. SKIP ADVERTISEMENTAdvertisementYour views on Aryna Sabalenka Getty ImagesSubscriber Anne K. was not happy with the lack of sportsmanship Aryna Sabalenka displayed during her loss in the 2026 U.S. Open final and it seems she is not alone in the following perspective:“Sabalenka was petulant and disrespectful throughout. Hitting the ball away - code violation - and breaking rackets and continually sending the message that when she didn’t win the point it was because of her error, when in fact most of the time it was because of Rybakina’s skill. I find Rybakina somewhat bland but I’m glad she won.”Why did Rybakina’s overall game plan hurt Sabalenka so much? Getty ImagesIt happens to every No. 1 eventually. They run into someone who does things to them they struggle to handle, especially when big titles are on the line.Roger Federer couldn’t manage the Nadal forehand high into his backhand. Nadal struggled to manage Djokovic’s relentless defense and sharp angles.Iga Świątek succumbed to the raw power of Aryna Sabalenka and others and then figured out to counter it.Now Elena Rybakina has come for Sabalenka, especially in finals.Her win on Sunday came with the same formula she used to topple her at the WTA Tour Finals, at the Australian Open, and and at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, when she came within a point of beating Sabalenka in a third-set tiebreak.She banged balls hard up the middle, handcuffing Sabalenka, pinning her deep and preventing her from sweeping balls to the corners. She kept the pace high and redirected as early as she could, denying Sabalenka the chance to grow into the match and take control as she does to just about everyone else.Sabalenka wins by moving forward. Rybakina keeps her back. She has her U.S. Open trophy, and her world No. 1 ranking, too.How Sabalenka forced a third set Getty ImagesDespite all of her grimacing and self-talk and hitting her racket against her head, Aryna Sabalenka trusted herself enough to try the same tactic that she’d used at the end of the first set to turn the second set around in clutch time.Leading 30-0 in the final game of the set, Elena Rybakina missed a first serve and Sabalenka once again took a long stride back to get a big cut on the return. But unlike at the end of the first set, she was able to finally put a couple of points together on Rybakina’s serve by leaning on the element of her game that worked so well for her against Rybakina when they played earlier this year in Indian Wells, Calif.Sabalenka used her variety. She finally found enough time and space to deploy an excellently placed drop shot — just her second of the match — to make it 30-30.Rybakina won the next point, but Sabalenka hung in the game like she hadn’t been able to before. Rybakina sent down another powerful first serve, but her feet got stuck in the court and she sent a lunging forehand long at deuce to give Sabalenka her third set point.On another second serve, Sabalenka threw her entire body behind a backhand to even the match. She won 60 percent of the points on Rybakina’s second serve for the set, up from 32 in the first.How did a once-hostile crowd rise for Sabalenka’s comeback surge? Getty ImagesAryna Sabalenka has spent three years being the enemy in Arthur Ashe Stadium.She played Coco Gauff in 2023 and crumbled. She played Jessica Pegula and Amanda Anisimova the next two years and stood tall to win the trophy.She came in today and assumed the mantle of crowd favorite. The world No. 1 the past two seasons; the two-time champion in search of a three-peat and a star in a city that loves stars.Elena Rybakina is not so well known to the kind of crowd that shows up for a major final in New York. It leans more wealthy and general interest rather than tennis diehard, even for a player who is about to take over the world No. 1 ranking and who had defeated Sabalenka to win the Australian Open in January.As Sabalenka tried to claw her way into form in the second set, the roars and cheers for her echoed around Arthur Ashe Stadium. They wanted more tennis, but they also wanted the star to do something historic, and that chance was there.Only Chris Evert and Serena Williams have won the U.S. Open three times in a row. Sabalenka has spoken openly about how she has come to love the New York, getting her table in a corner of the Polo Bar and Lounge and eating her steak. She even likes the traffic and the long slow rides out to Flushing Meadows.Over the past few years, even as she has broken local hearts, the New York crowd has come to love her too. Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula in the semis. Sabalenka was next up to support.She got herself two set points with Rybakina serving at 4-5, with a scorching return winner off a 117 mph wide first serve.The crowd gave her one of those roars of reassurance and poised itself for an explosion.But then Sabalenka missed a neutral forehand well long on the first. On the second, Rybakina kicked in a vicious second serve that had Sabalenka lunging as she sent a backhand wide. Two more big serves and everyone had to go back to sitting on their hands. The explosion was on hold — but not permanently.How did the last game of the first set encapsulate Sabalenka’s problem? Getty ImagesThe final game of the first set just about summed up how things were going for Aryna Sabalenka. Elena Rybakina couldn’t hit a first serve and Sabalenka threw everything at her, but still the new world No. 1 ended up the victor.Sabalenka’s cleverest move came at 30-15 in the final game, when she took a big step back before Rybakina’s second serve, daring her to really go for it. That drew a double fault, but on the next point Rybakina reset without issue and placed a nice serve near the middle of the box to win another quick rally.At 40-30, Sabalenka again stepped back to get a look at Rybakina’s second serve. She sent back a deep forehand return to save set point, but again couldn’t build any sort of momentum. At deuce, Rybakina — again on her second serve — won the longest rally of the game at all of nine shots, with a stunning backhand that just clipped the back of the line.Having spent the whole set on the back foot, Sabalenka tried everything she could to draw even and executed well. It still wasn’t enough.SKIP ADVERTISEMENTAdvertisementWhy did a remarkable serve statistic define the opening set? Getty ImagesAryna Sabalenka made it to the final from the semifinals for one big reason: She absolutely destroyed Jessica Pegula’s second serve.Her opponent’s second serve is so often Sabalenka’s bread and butter. She can step in and and send her opponent chasing backward or toward the tramlines, and often both all at once.If someone had told Sabalenka that Elena Rybakina would land just 30 percent of her first serves in the first set today, Sabalenka surely would have signed on for that — while expecting to win the set or at least establish a lead.Rybakina did her part. She landed just eight of 30 first serves, which amounts to 27 percent. That’s an unheard-of number just about anywhere on a professional tennis court, let alone in a final. That’s the woman widely considered to have the best serve in the game, a human metronome who can torture opponents on the first ball and leave them despairing at how they can possibly win a point or two, let alone break her.But Sabalenka couldn’t take advantage of Rybakina’s second serve in the way she so often does. Rybakina, the new world No. 1, can get a nasty kick on her ball, and she can also raise her speed to around 95 mph, rushing Sabalenka when she wants to get on top of the ball.Again and again, Sabalenka either missed her second-serve return entirely or couldn’t do enough with it. With Rybakina serving up 4-3, Sabalenka had two looks at a second serve, one at deuce and one at ad-40 Rybakina. She sent both of them into the net.Overall, if players are above a 50 percent win rate on their second serve, they are feeling decent about themselves — especially against someone like Sabalenka. Rybakina was at 68 percent in the first set.Rybakina also did a good job of keeping Sabalenka on the defensive when the Belarusian missed her first serve, capturing 64 percent of the points on Sabalenka’s second serve.Rybakina had served about as poorly as any opponent could hope. When the opening stanza was over, she still had the edge. Getty ImagesA packed Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd was treated to an engaging, three-set match between the two best women's players in the world, fitting of a championship affair.It's amazing to watch tennis of this quality but sad to watch another tournament in Flushing Meadows come to a close. Getty ImagesElena Rybakina has ended the campaign the 2026 Grand Slams the way she started them – as a champion.What a year for the soon-to-be world No. 1! Getty ImagesFor the first time since 2022, Aryna Sabalenka has failed to win a Grand Slam title.Rest assured, she will be back with a vengeance.