DistantNews
Support us
🇵🇾 Paraguay /Sports

Rybakina beats Osaka and moves within one win of taking Sabalenka’s No. 1 ranking

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire From a news agency Ongoing story
  • World No. 2 Elena Rybakina beat No. 13 Naomi Osaka 6-1, 6-4 in 66 minutes to reach the US Open quarterfinals.
  • She will face Zheng Qinwen, who recovered from major deficits to defeat Iga Swiatek and advance.
  • Rybakina will become world No. 1 by beating Zheng and reaching the semifinals, regardless of Sabalenka’s result.

Elena Rybakina is one victory away from taking the world No. 1 ranking from Aryna Sabalenka after brushing aside Naomi Osaka at the US Open.

The Kazakh, ranked second, defeated Osaka, the tournament’s No. 13 seed, 6-1, 6-4 in 66 minutes. Rybakina needed only 21 minutes to take the opening set after Osaka won just her first service game.

Osaka improved at the start of the second set, but Rybakina broke for a 4-3 lead and quickly seized control. Her quarterfinal opponent will be Zheng Qinwen, the reigning Olympic champion who has fallen to No. 121 after injuries.

Zheng entered the tournament through qualifying because of her ranking, then revived her campaign in New York with comeback victories over Madison Keys and Iga Swiatek. In both matches, she overturned a 5-0 deficit in one set.

Rybakina needs to beat Zheng and reach the semifinals to take the top ranking mathematically, regardless of what Sabalenka does. She could also become No. 1 by losing to Zheng if Sabalenka fails to win the tournament for a third straight year. Sabalenka has held the top spot since October 2024.

About this summary

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

More Stories

From Our Blog