Top News

The 27-year-old Kazakh, who had never before reached the championship match at Flushing Meadows, overcame losing the opening set to complete a composed comeback in two hours and eight minutes, according to the WTA website.

In front of a packed Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd, which included former First Lady Michelle Obama, Gauff began the match strongly and broke Rybakina's serve to take a 4-2 lead in the first set. The American maintained her advantage to win the set 6-3 and put Rybakina under early pressure.

Rybakina responded robustly at the start of the second set, breaking Gauff to open a 4-1 lead. Gauff mounted a comeback, winning three consecutive games to level the set at 4-4. However, Rybakina regained composure at the critical moment, breaking again in the tenth game to win the set 6-4 and force a decider.

The third set remained tightly contested, with both players exchanging games deep into the match. Rybakina missed two break-point chances in the sixth game but capitalised on her next opportunity in the eighth game to break Gauff and lead 5-3, moving within one game of the final.

Gauff responded with determination, earning and converting her first break point of the third set to level the score once more. Rybakina immediately broke back before serving out the match to complete the 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory.

This win gives Rybakina a chance to avenge her defeat by Sabalenka in their previous Grand Slam final meeting at the 2026 Australian Open.

Earlier in the day, Sabalenka secured her place in the final by defeating third seed Jessica Pegula 7-5, 6-2, extending her US Open winning streak to 20 matches and reaching her third consecutive final in New York.

The upcoming final will be the 18th career meeting between Rybakina and Sabalenka, with the Belarusian holding a 10-7 advantage in their head-to-head record. Their most recent encounter took place in the Miami semifinals earlier this season.

Sunday's US Open final will mark only the second occasion since 1988 that the same two players have met in both the Australian Open and US Open finals in the same season. The previous instance was in 1994, when Steffi Graf and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario faced each other in both finals.

Rybakina will now contest the US Open title for the first time against the two-time defending champion and current world No. 1 Sabalenka at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Sunday.