Gauff rallies past Andreeva as Rybakina's rise to No. 1 completes historic US Open final four

Coco Gauff saved two match points and rallied past Mirra Andreeva on Wednesday night to reach the US Open semifinals, capping a day at Flushing Meadows in which Elena Rybakina's own quarterfinal victory confirmed she will become the WTA's new world No. 1. The two results, decided hours apart on Arthur Ashe Stadium, mean the tournament's top four seeds have all reached the semifinals for just the second time in the Open era, and for the first time at any Grand Slam since Wimbledon in 2009.

Gauff, the fourth seed and 2023 champion, beat the fifth-seeded Andreeva 2-6, 7-6 (7), 6-2 in two hours and 19 minutes, extending a winning streak that now stands at 11 matches. She will play Rybakina in Thursday's semifinal, a rematch of a series tied 1-1. In the tournament's other half, top-seeded and two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka faces third-seeded Jessica Pegula, who is into her third straight US Open semifinal and is still chasing her first Grand Slam singles title.

A tiebreak that turned on 39 shots

Andreeva took the first set in 26 minutes, breaking Gauff's serve twice and dictating rallies from the baseline. Gauff's issues were largely self-inflicted: she finished the match with 12 double faults and 42 unforced errors, and her first-serve percentage sat at 59%, well below her tournament average. But the second set turned on a single point. Serving to stay in the tiebreak, Gauff and Andreeva traded 39 shots in a rally that Gauff eventually won with a drop shot, pushing her to a 5-3 lead. Andreeva clawed back to earn two match points before Gauff erased both — the first on an Andreeva forehand that sailed long, the second by holding her nerve to close out the breaker 9-7.

The shift was decisive. Andreeva, the French Open champion, grew visibly frustrated in the third set, smashing a racquet during a changeover as Gauff took control and closed out the match with a break to love. Gauff has now beaten Andreeva in six consecutive meetings, three of them after dropping the first set.

"Just believing is all I can do. The game may not always show up, but I can control the belief in myself. I think the more instances that I keep showing up and being successful in those moments, maybe the delusion will be more factual," Gauff said afterward.

Gauff credited the previous day's comeback by fellow American Frances Tiafoe, who rallied from two sets down in his own quarterfinal, for the mindset she carried into the second-set collapse. "I just had to reset," she said, adding that she wanted to leave the court with no regrets regardless of the outcome. Andreeva, for her part, said she should have played with more risk in the tiebreak rather than settling into a defensive pattern that let Gauff dictate the closing points.

Rybakina's long-awaited No. 1

Earlier Wednesday, second-seeded Rybakina outlasted Zheng Qinwen 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in two hours and 14 minutes, saving a break point while trailing 4-3 in the deciding set before winning six straight points to close out the match. The win extended her head-to-head record over Zheng to 5-1 and improved her 2026 season mark to 47-13. It also mathematically guaranteed that Rybakina will be the WTA's new world No. 1 when rankings update on Monday, September 14, regardless of how the rest of the tournament unfolds.

The Kazakhstani will become the 30th woman to hold the top ranking and the first man or woman from Kazakhstan to do so. She replaces Sabalenka, who had held the position since October 2024 — a 107-week reign that ranks 10th-longest in WTA history. Rybakina's rise has been built on a season that already includes the 2026 Australian Open title, victory at the 2025 WTA Finals, and a tour-leading total of more than 350 aces.

"Becoming the WTA World No. 1 is something I've dreamed about since I was a young girl, it means so much to me. I'm so proud of this moment. I want to thank my whole team for their support and being able to celebrate this achievement with me," Rybakina said.

Zheng, unseeded after entering the tournament as a qualifier, had reached the quarterfinals through four consecutive five-set matches, including comebacks from 5-0 down against Madison Keys and in an earlier round. Her run ended in New York, but it briefly put her within reach of becoming just the second Open-era qualifier to make a US Open semifinal.

A final four last seen in 1975

With Gauff, Rybakina, Sabalenka and Pegula all through, the tournament's top four seeds have reached the semifinals together for only the second time in the Open era. The previous instance came in 1975, when No. 1 Chris Evert, No. 2 Virginia Wade, No. 3 Martina Navratilova and No. 4 Evonne Goolagong Cawley advanced to the final four at Forest Hills. It is also the first time the top four seeds at any Grand Slam have all reached the semifinals since Wimbledon in 2009.

The symmetry extends to the semifinal draw itself. Sabalenka leads Pegula 9-4 in their head-to-head series, a gap that reflects Pegula's continued search for the win that would finally deliver a maiden major title. On the other side, Rybakina and Gauff arrive with a series tied at one win apiece.

Two Americans, one Belarusian, one Kazakh

The composition of the semifinal field underscores how the top of the women's game has consolidated around four players in 2026. Gauff and Pegula give the United States two representatives in the final four of its home major. Sabalenka is seeking a third consecutive US Open title, a feat only Chris Evert and Serena Williams have managed in the Open era, with Williams the most recent to do it in 2012-14. Pegula, meanwhile, is competing in her third consecutive US Open semifinal and is still chasing her first Grand Slam singles title, having lost her only major final so far, at the 2024 US Open, to Sabalenka. She will have to get past that same rival, who leads their head-to-head series by a wide margin, to reach Saturday's final.

Rybakina's path to the final four has been the most turbulent of the group. She dropped the opening set to Zheng before finding her serve, a pattern that has recurred through her fortnight in New York. That inconsistency has not stopped her from becoming the player of the season by result: an Australian Open title in January, the season-ending WTA Finals crown last November, and now the No. 1 ranking, achieved without having previously spent a single week there in a career that includes a Wimbledon title in 2022.

What the result means

The all-top-four semifinal lineup gives the tournament's final weekend an unusually settled hierarchy after a fortnight that otherwise produced upsets throughout the women's draw, Zheng's run as a qualifier chief among them. For the WTA, Rybakina's ascent ends a reign that had made Sabalenka the face of the tour for nearly two years and reshapes the title picture heading into the final major of the season. For Gauff, a second US Open trophy would arrive three years after her breakthrough run in 2023, this time as a more complete player who has now won 20 of her last 22 matches dating to Wimbledon despite persistent service struggles that resurfaced again against Andreeva.

Both semifinals are scheduled for the night session on Thursday, September 11, at Flushing Meadows, with the winners meeting in Saturday's final. Sabalenka and Pegula are set to open the evening, followed by Rybakina against Gauff. Rybakina's new No. 1 ranking is already locked in regardless of Thursday's outcome, but a run to the title would give her the rare distinction of arriving at the top of the rankings and a Grand Slam trophy in the same week.