
World No 1 Elena Rybakina clinched the year-end top ranking after defeating Yulia Putintseva 6-2, 6-3 at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, ensuring she will start 2027 as the world's top-ranked player.
AI-generated summary
Rybakina reached the world No 1 spot last month after winning the US Open, surpassing Aryna Sabalenka.
World No 1 Elena Rybakina hailed her “amazing achievement” after securing the year-end top ranking with a 6-2, 6-3 win over fellow Kazakh Yulia Putintseva in Japan on Thursday.
Rybakina became the world’s top-ranked player for the first time last month in winning the US Open, replacing Aryna Sabalenka at the summit, needing only one more victory this year to ensure the world No 2 Belarusian could not overtake her.
She ensured she would start 2027 on top after a comfortable opening match in Tokyo, swatting aside world No 67 Putintseva at the Pan Pacific Open in 70 minutes.

Former world tennis queen Naomi Osaka lost to 18-year-old Slovak star Bohankova 3:6, 5:7 in the second round of the Pan Pacific Women's Tennis Championships, and was eliminated early. Naomi Osaka expressed regret after the game and mentioned that many sets of fashionable jerseys originally prepared for the event would not be available.
The French player Kylian Mbappe, who plays for Real Madrid, triggered a boycott due to inappropriate remarks related to China. Sponsors terminated cooperation and the broadcast of the game was suspended. Mbappe, La Liga and Real Madrid subsequently issued statements apologizing, and La Liga established a crisis response team to seek to resolve the threat of financial losses.

The Ministry of Sports launched the preliminary planning of the National Sports Museum and held a site selection press conference. Minister Li Yang and project host Xie Shiyuan attended. Based on the proposal from the county and city and the central review mechanism, applications are expected to be accepted in February 2016 to create a national sports museum that showcases Taiwan’s unique values.

The Portland Trail Blazers assigned 21-year-old centre Yang Hansen to the Rip City Remix just three games into the season, sparking online debate among fans.

The 2026 Taiwan National Park Marathon-Yangmingshan will be held on November 1. The Taipei City Government Police Department announced traffic control and diversion information on relevant road sections on that day, reminding passers-by to change routes in advance and cooperate with the command.

Kimi Antonelli is nearing a historic Formula 1 championship, potentially becoming the first Italian winner since Alberto Ascari in 1953, ending a 73-year drought for Italian racing fans.