Elena Rybakina convincingly knocks out Naomi Osaka and moves one win away from world No. 1
Elena Rybakina produced one of her most convincing performances at this year's US Open and, with a 6:1, 6:4 victory over Naomi Osaka, reached the quarterfinals of the New York Grand Slam for the first time in her career. The second seed and reigning Australian Open champion dominated most of the match on Louis Armstrong Stadium, and according to the official US Open report, she closed it out after Osaka managed to save two match points late in the contest. The victory carries significance well beyond simply reaching the last eight: the WTA states that if Rybakina defeats Zheng Qinwen in the quarterfinals, she will take over the world No. 1 ranking after the tournament regardless of the results of the other contenders. For the 27-year-old Kazakh, it would be the first spell at the top of the WTA rankings in her career. After four rounds in New York, she has yet to lose a set, and her combination of a powerful serve and aggressive first strike is currently among the most effective at the tournament.
Rybakina imposed her rhythm from the opening set
The official US Open report states that Osaka struck a 122-mile-per-hour ace, approximately 196 kilometers per hour, in her first service game, but the initial impression of an evenly matched contest changed quickly. In her next service game, the Japanese player committed three double faults and Rybakina secured an early break, after which she completely took control of the rallies. The Kazakh player pushed Osaka from corner to corner, stepped further inside the court whenever she received a shorter ball and did not allow her to establish her familiar baseline rhythm. According to US Open data, Rybakina hit ten winners in the first set, while Osaka had only three, and the set was completed in 22 minutes. Even when Osaka earned an opportunity to break back, Rybakina solved the problem with her serve, something that characterized much of the match.
The second set was more competitive, but it did not change the overall picture of the match. The first five games lasted roughly as long as the entire first set, and Osaka managed to save a break point in the fifth game and remain within touching distance on the scoreboard. However, according to the organizers' report, double faults appeared again in the seventh game and Rybakina earned the break that proved decisive. Osaka saved two match points on her own serve at 3:5, but she could not find a way to seriously threaten her opponent's serve. Rybakina then struck her seventh ace in the following game and completed the match. It was an exceptionally controlled performance against a player who won the US Open in 2018 and 2020 and who built her greatest successes over the years precisely on hard courts.
The numbers confirm just how efficient Rybakina was
After the match, the WTA highlighted Rybakina's 29 winners, seven aces and only 17 unforced errors, which goes a long way toward explaining why Osaka was unable to establish a sustained period of pressure. The US Open additionally reports that Rybakina won 27 of 31 points after landing her first serve. Such efficiency meant Osaka was almost never given extended sequences of second serves she could attack aggressively, so she had to play most of the important points under pressure from her opponent's first strike. After the victory, Rybakina admitted that even she had not expected such a convincing performance, emphasizing that she was feeling the ball very well and that at certain moments she also had a little luck with shots that landed on the lines. At the same time, she stressed that she could not afford to relax against Osaka regardless of the score because her aggressive game can change the course of a match very quickly.
A comparison with their first meeting further demonstrates just how one-sided the New York encounter was. The WTA states that in August, in the quarterfinals of the tournament in Toronto, Rybakina had to come from behind against Osaka after losing the first set and won 4:6, 7:6(5), 6:4 after two hours and 33 minutes. At that time she was a break down twice in the second set and came within two points of defeat in the tie-break. In New York, she did not allow a similar scenario to develop: she gained an early advantage, protected her serve and forced Osaka to chase the score for almost the entire match. The two matches, played less than a month apart, therefore ended with the same winner but in completely different ways. Toronto was a test of endurance and mental stability, while the US Open showed how dominant Rybakina can be when she controls her serve and the first shot after it from the very beginning.
First US Open quarterfinal for the two-time Grand Slam champion
Although she already has two Grand Slam titles, the US Open had until now been a tournament where Rybakina had not managed to go as far as in Melbourne, Paris or Wimbledon. The official US Open website states that her previous best result in New York was the fourth round in 2025, when she was stopped by Marketa Vondroušova. By reaching this year's quarterfinals, she completed appearances in the last eight at all four Grand Slam tournaments. Her first major title came at Wimbledon in 2022, while she won her second at the beginning of 2026 at the Australian Open. The WTA's official profile also states that she won Stuttgart this season, while reaching the finals in Indian Wells and Toronto.
Her path through the first four rounds in New York was remarkably stable. In the first round she defeated 17-year-old American Thea Frodin 6:3, 6:2 after a rain delay of almost three hours, and then beat Jessica Bouzas Maneiro 6:2, 6:4. The most demanding moment before Osaka came in the third round against Yuliia Starodubtseva, when Rybakina lost serve at 4:4 in the first set, but immediately broke back and ultimately won 7:6(6), 6:3. According to the US Open report from that match, she had 25 winners and 11 aces in the first set, but also 22 unforced errors, and after the match she assessed that she had not played her best. Against Osaka, she then raised her level of control and turned a potentially demanding encounter into one of her cleanest victories of the tournament.
The WTA states that Rybakina has lost only 25 games in total through the first four rounds, the second-lowest number among the quarterfinalists behind Aryna Sabalenka. That figure is particularly important in the second week of a Grand Slam, when every additional minute on court can affect recovery and freshness. Before the fourth round, the official US Open preview showed that Rybakina had spent four hours and 14 minutes on court through the first three rounds, while Osaka had played two hours and 28 minutes longer. The Japanese player had to play three sets in both the second and third rounds, meaning she entered the match with Rybakina carrying a noticeably heavier workload. Such a difference does not determine the outcome by itself, but it further emphasized how efficiently Rybakina had progressed through the draw.
One victory separates her from the No. 1 spot in the WTA rankings
The biggest stake in the quarterfinal against Zheng Qinwen will be the possibility of rising to world No. 1. The WTA report following the victory over Osaka explicitly states that by winning the quarterfinal, Rybakina will overtake current No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka when the rankings are updated after the US Open. The official tournament preview before the fourth round also stated that Rybakina had the clearest path to the top among the players who arrived in New York with a mathematical chance of becoming No. 1. At the start of the final stages of the tournament, that race included Sabalenka, Rybakina, Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff. For Rybakina, simply reaching the semifinal would now be enough for her not to depend on any other result.
The Kazakh confirmed after the fourth round that becoming No. 1 is one of her major goals, but at the same time remained focused on the next match. According to the official US Open report, she particularly emphasized the importance of serving well and taking an approach in which she will fight for every point without thinking too much about the consequences for the rankings. That message fits with her performances so far in New York, where she has largely avoided major fluctuations. Rybakina has already reached No. 2 in the WTA rankings, which according to her official profile is also her career-high ranking to date. A victory over Zheng would therefore mean not only another Grand Slam semifinal, but also the biggest individual step forward of her career so far.
Zheng Qinwen comes through qualifying and is playing a tournament of remarkable comebacks
Rybakina's next opponent in New York will be Zheng Qinwen, one of the biggest stories of this year's women's tournament. The Chinese player, the 2024 Paris Olympic champion and former world No. 4, had to go through qualifying this year after a lengthy absence caused by a right elbow problem pushed her outside the top tier of the rankings. The US Open states that at the time of the fourth round she was ranked No. 121 in the world. Despite that, she has already knocked out two Grand Slam champions in the main draw in a manner that demonstrated exceptional resilience. Against Madison Keys in the third round, she recovered from 0:5 down in the deciding set and saved a match point, and then in the fourth round against Iga Świątek she again came back from 0:5 down, this time in the first set, to win 7:5, 6:3.
The official US Open report states that with that result Zheng became the first qualifier to reach the women's singles quarterfinals in New York since Emma Raducanu, who came through qualifying all the way to the title in 2021. Zheng has also reached the quarterfinals in each of her last three US Open appearances, showing how well the hard court and conditions at Flushing Meadows suit her. Rybakina, however, holds a favorable head-to-head record: according to US Open data, she leads 4:1. Their only Grand Slam meeting to date came at Wimbledon in 2022, on the Kazakh's path to her first major title. The statistics give Rybakina the advantage, but Zheng's series of recoveries from almost lost positions is a warning that the quarterfinal should not be viewed as a formality.
Osaka remains an important figure near the top despite the defeat
For Naomi Osaka, the defeat ends her attempt to win the US Open for a third time, but her position on the Tour is considerably more stable than it was during the early stages of her return to competitive tennis. The official WTA profile on September 7 listed Osaka as the world No. 13, with a record of 25 wins and 10 losses in 2026. The official results record states that this season she reached the final in Bad Homburg, the quarterfinals of Wimbledon and the fourth round of Roland Garros. Her Grand Slam career still includes four titles: the US Open in 2018 and 2020 and the Australian Open in 2019 and 2021. She was also once the world No. 1, and the official US Open preview states that she spent a total of 25 weeks at the top during 2019.
Osaka reached the fourth round in New York through a considerably more demanding route than Rybakina. In the first round she defeated Anastasia Zakharova in two tie-breaks, in the second she beat Katerina Siniakova 6:2, 5:7, 6:1, and then in the third round defeated Elise Mertens 3:6, 6:3, 7:5. Ahead of the match with Rybakina, the US Open also reported that Osaka had been experiencing an Achilles tendon problem since the grass-court season. After defeating Mertens, she took a medical timeout because of discomfort in the area of her left lower leg, although she herself stressed that she did not consider the issue a major injury. There is no official confirmation that this problem decisively affected her defeat to Rybakina, so it would be excessive to explain the result through her physical condition; the statistics and the course of the match primarily show that the second seed was more precise, more aggressive and more stable on serve.
Rybakina brought the continuity of the strongest part of her season to New York
The New York result is not an isolated flash but a continuation of a period in which Rybakina has established herself firmly at the very top of women's tennis. The official WTA profile states that she ended 2025 by winning the WTA Finals, and opened the 2026 season with her second Grand Slam title by defeating Sabalenka in the Australian Open final 6:4, 4:6, 6:4. In the spring she won Stuttgart again, while she finished as runner-up in Indian Wells. In August she also reached the final of the WTA 1000 tournament in Toronto, where Iga Świątek stopped her. At the start of the US Open, the WTA profile recorded more than 40 wins for her during the season, confirming that her rise to No. 2 has been the result of continuity across multiple surfaces and different parts of the calendar.
Her serve remains a particularly important element of her game. After the third round, the US Open stated that Rybakina was leading the WTA Tour with 357 aces for the season, well ahead of the next player on that list. Against Osaka, that weapon again proved crucial, but not only through the number of aces. Even more important was the fact that she won almost every point behind her first serve and in doing so prevented the Japanese player from continuously attacking with the return. When Rybakina combines that kind of serving with the ability to seize the initiative early with her forehand and backhand, opponents are often forced to defend from outside their optimal positions. That exact pattern was visible in the first set, in which Osaka was left without enough time to take the initiative.
The quarterfinal against Zheng now brings Rybakina a double test: an opportunity to reach her first US Open semifinal and the possibility of becoming the world's top-ranked women's player for the first time. The course of the tournament so far shows that she enters the match having expended very little energy, without losing a set and following a victory over one of the most successful hard-court players of her generation. On the other side will be an opponent who has already survived a 0:5 deficit twice at the same tournament and who has come through qualifying to reach the last eight. It is precisely that contrast that makes the next encounter particularly intriguing: Rybakina relies on stability and control, Zheng on endurance and the ability to mount comebacks. For Rybakina, the equation is completely clear - one more victory would bring her not only a place among the final four in New York but also the No. 1 ranking in world tennis.
Sources:
- US Open - official report on Elena Rybakina's victory over Naomi Osaka and match statistics (link)
- WTA - report on the Rybakina-Osaka match and confirmation of the scenario for the No. 1 spot in the WTA rankings (link)
- US Open - report on Rybakina's victory over Yuliia Starodubtseva and information on the race for No. 1 (link)
- US Open - preview of the Rybakina-Osaka match, time spent on court and information about Osaka's Achilles tendon problem (link)
- US Open - report on Zheng Qinwen's victory over Iga Świątek and her path through qualifying (link)
- WTA - official Elena Rybakina profile, current ranking and results in the 2026 season (link)
- WTA - official Naomi Osaka profile, current ranking and Grand Slam results (link)
- WTA - report on the Toronto quarterfinal between Rybakina and Osaka in August 2026 (link)