One set may have already passed in her first US Open semi-final, but Elena Rybakina still had not arrived inside Arthur Ashe Stadium. While an inspired Coco Gauff blew through the first stanza covering every inch of the acrylic surface as their 22,000-strong audience screamed for the Kazakhstani’s blood, Rybakina was wild and erratic from the baseline and her peerless serve was nowhere to be seen. Nobody reaches the summit of professional without being able to problem-solve through difficult days on courtthough, and Rybakina gave a brilliant showcase of the underrated toughness at the heart of her success as she coolly recovered from a set down to overpower Gauff and seal her spot in her first US Open final with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win.
Six matches into her latest grand slam odyssey, Rybakina has not played her best tennis at any point in the tournament but her continued success here underlines her mental growth. This is Rybakina’s fourth career grand slam final and since her maiden victory at Wimbledon in 2022, her subsequent three major finals have all come on hard courts. Having waited four years to win her second grand slam, she has given herself a shot at winning two major titles in the same year.
In many ways, this was already one of the most important and successful tournaments of Rybakina’s career. She arrived in New York with a golden opportunity to unlock one of the great achievements in this sport by becoming world No 1. Despite a scary Achilles injury in the build up to the tournament and a dire record at the US Open, she kept on moving forward.
In the aftermath of that massive success, which she sealed with a tense quarter-final win over Zheng Qinwen, Rybakina made it clear that she was far from satisfied and the job was not even half-finished. She was here for nothing less than the title. Now she will contend for it in a final that will mark the rekindling of the rivalry that has defined the season, facing the departing No 1 Aryna Sabalenka in a rematch of the Australian Open final won by Rybakina.
For Gauff, her growth over the past year has been defined by the dramatic improvement she has made to her serve, the shot that reduced her to tears on this court last year. This was the least of her issues here. Gauff was let down by her forehand, which produced 15 unforced errors and simply did not hold up under relentless pressure from one of the biggest shotmakers of the game.
This was a historic evening, the first time in 51 years that all four top seeds reached the semi-finals of the US Open women’s singles draw and the first occurrence in women’s singles at any major event since Wimbledon in 2009. It is a reflection of the strength of the group at the top of the women’s game, though, that this lineup was not at all surprising. By now, most of the top players have played each other countless times, but Rybakina and Gauff, the second and fourth seeds, have largely avoided each other in their careers.
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