Until Thursday night, the tournament was separated by one seed from the All-American final between the 2023 champion and the 2024 runner-up. Neither made it there, and Michelle Obama was at the stadium to watch them both lose.
In 1988, the Australian Open moved to hard courts, only one other pair before Sabalenka and Rybakina had contested the Australian Open and US Open finals in the same season, Steffi Graf and Arantsa Sánchez Vicario in 1994. Rybakina won in Melbourne nine months ago.
Sabalenka’s eighth consecutive hardcourt major final is her first
The first semi-final was a rematch of the 2024 final and the 2025 semi-final, both of which were won by Sabalenka. “No complaints. I’m very happy that I was able to get out of this kind of tennis,” he said afterwards. “The last game I played against Jessica was almost impossible for me to win.” He then turned to the stadium, which wanted the other result. “Thank you for the atmosphere. Your respect for me is priceless. I know you wanted him to win, that’s obvious. But thank you for being so respectful to me.”
Sabalenka has now reached four consecutive US Open finals and eight consecutive Grand Slam finals on hard courts, the most accomplished by any player of either gender in the open era. The previous mark was 7 by Steffi Graf at the US Open from 1987 to 1990, Martina Hingis at the Australian Open from 1997 to 2000 and Novak Djokovic from 2010 to 2013.
It is her ninth Grand Slam final, her 46th win of the season and 62nd over a top-10 opponent, and another win makes her the first player to win three consecutive US Open titles since Serena Williams from 2012 to 2014.
Rybakina wraps up her hard court finals
Rybakina had never advanced past the fourth round here before these two weeks. It is his fourth Grand Slam final and he has now reached the final in three of the four tournaments.
Rybakina described a match decided by several points, and with the second serve she could not attack. “Of course, there were nerves. Coco is a great player. Playing him is always difficult. Even if his first serve sometimes falls short, the second is so heavy that it is difficult to dictate rallies. I took a deep breath, tried to talk to myself positively and just told myself to fight and try to play good tennis.”
“It was so close in the third set. I feel like I got a little lucky with his service. A couple of deep returns, one error from him, it quickly went my way. I think it was really a battle. A few moments passed my way. In the end I was just trying to stay focused and stay aggressive and somehow I won the match.”
It was her 48th win of the season, ninth against a top-10 opponent in 2026 and 40th of her career, and it made her the fifth player in two decades to reach the finals of the Australian Open and the US Open in the same year, following Justine Henin in 2006, Victoria Azarenka in 2012, Kerbalkaen from San, and in 2012 in Kerbalkaen 20. 2023 and 2025. Beating Gough also made her one of only two active players to beat former champions in all four Grand Slams, alongside Serena Williams.
The last four were a rarity in themselves. The top four have only reached the US Open women’s semifinals once, in 1975, when Chris Evert, Virginia Wade, Martina Navratilova and Evonne Goulagong made it there, with Evert winning the final. The most recent case at any major tournament was Wimbledon in 2009.
Sabalenka leads 10-7, but Rybakina won the most important last meeting, the Australian Open final in January.
