Elena Rybakina beat Qinwen Zheng 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 at Arthur Ashe Stadium and took the world No. 1 ranking from Aryna Sabalenka on Wednesday, turning a US Open quarterfinal into the sort of result that rewrites the top of women’s tennis.
That is why fans were searching How old is Sabalenka today: her nearly 100-week run at No. 1 ended when Rybakina, the No. 2 seed, closed out a match that had been tight early, with Zheng leading 4-3 after the first seven games before the momentum shifted. Rybakina now moves into the semifinals, and she will face Coco Gauff next.
The result carries more weight because the ranking change was not a one-off surge from nowhere. The WTA rankings began in 1975, and Rybakina became the 30th woman to reach world No. 1 in singles. She also arrives there after missing a chance to climb to the top in Cincinnati, where she had to retire injured in a quarterfinal against Iga Swiatek. That earlier setback made this run look less like a smooth rise and more like a correction.
Qinwen Zheng, the 2024 gold medalist at the Paris Olympics, had enough in the opening set to make Rybakina work for every point, but the match changed once the second set began. Rybakina found her range, controlled the middle of the contest and finished in 2 hours, 14 minutes. The scoreline also left Sabalenka with the loss of the ranking even before the rest of the women’s draw played out.
The rest of the quarterfinal day only sharpened the picture. Coco Gauff beat No. 5 seed Mirra Andreeva 2-6, 7-6, 6-2 after saving two match points, setting up the semifinal against Rybakina. Karen Khachanov reached the last four for the second time in his career when Alexander Blockx retired because of injury, and Alexander Zverev advanced with a straight-sets win over Botic van de Zandschulp. For Sabalenka, the headline is simple: the top ranking has changed hands, and Rybakina now has the next chance to make it stick.
