Elena Rybakina beats Qinwen Zheng to reach world number 1 ranking

A victory to climb to the top. Elena Rybakina overthrew Qinwen Zheng (121st player in the world) to win her US Open quarter-final in three sets (3-6, 6-1, 6-4), Wednesday September 9 in New York (United States). After letting the first set slip away, the Kazakhstani found solutions to sweep her opponent in the second set, before making the difference in the deciding set.

With this result, Elena Rybakina is assured of sitting in the world number 1 chair from Monday, for the first time in her career. She will succeed Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, who will leave the top of the rankings after 99 consecutive weeks as world number 1. Outgoing champion, Aryna Sabalenka had the most points to defend during the fortnight in New York.

One set to settle down, two to reach the summits

In a match with multiple stakes, it took Elena Rybakina one round to enter her game, a surprise from the start. Broken at the worst time at 4-3, she initially resisted in an interminable ninth game (more than fourteen minutes) but ended up breaking, letting the Chinese take control and take the lead.

Stung, the Kazakhstani immediately responded with a much more controlled second set, and evacuated in thirty-eight minutes of play. She then made the difference on her only break opportunities in the decisive set, before concluding and celebrating her accomplishment with restrained joy.