Elena Rybakina turned a rough start into the biggest ranking shift in women’s tennis on Tuesday, beating Qinwen Zheng 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 at the US Open quarterfinals and moving into the semifinals with the world No. 1 ranking. The 27-year-old from Kazakhstan became the 30th woman to hold the top spot in singles since the WTA rankings began in 1975.
The result mattered beyond the scoreline. Rybakina took the top ranking from Aryna Sabalenka, ending nearly 100 weeks without a new women’s No. 1 and doing it on the same day she booked a semifinal against Coco Gauff. For readers searching Rybakina height, the bigger number was not physical but historical: a first climb to No. 1 for a player who had been close before and had watched the chance slip away in Cincinnati when injury forced her to retire against Iga Swiatek.
At Arthur Ashe Stadium, Zheng had the better opening stretch and led 4-3 after the first seven games before closing out the first set. Rybakina did not let that become the story. She took control in the second set, then held off the No. 2 seed in the decider to finish the match in 2 hours, 14 minutes. The finish fit the ranking race: one player steadied herself after a slow start, the other could not protect the early edge long enough to stop the shift at the top.
Gauff was already waiting after her own comeback, a 2-6, 7-6, 6-2 win over Mirra Andreeva in which she saved two match points and extended her winning streak to 11 matches. That makes the women’s draw feel suddenly compact, with Rybakina and Gauff carrying the strongest momentum into the semifinals.
The men’s side moved forward as well, with Karen Khachanov advancing for the second time in his career after Alexander Blockx retired injured while trailing 6-2, 7-5, 3-2, and Alexander Zverev beating Botic van de Zandschulp 6-2, 7-5, 6-1. But the day belonged to Rybakina, whose win changed the top of the women’s game and left her one round away from a final that now matches form, rankings and pressure in one match.
