Elena Rybakina rallies to beat Coco Gauff and book US Open final with Aryna Sabalenka

One set may have already passed in her first US Open semi-final, but Elena Rybakina still had not arrived inside Arthur Ashe Stadium. While an inspired Coco Gauff blew through the first stanza covering every inch of the acrylic surface as their 22,000-strong audience screamed for the Kazakhstani’s blood, Rybakina was wild and erratic from the baseline and her peerless serve was nowhere to be seen.

Nobody reaches the summit of professional without being able to problem-solve through difficult days on courtthough, and Rybakina gave a brilliant showcase of the underrated toughness at the heart of her success as she coolly recovered from a set down to overpower Gauff and seal her spot in her first US Open final with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win.

Six matches into her latest grand slam odyssey, Rybakina has not played her best tennis at any point in the tournament but her continued success here underlines her mental growth. This is Rybakina’s fourth career grand slam final and since her maiden victory at Wimbledon in 2022, her subsequent three major finals have all come on hard courts. Having waited four years to win her second grand slam, she has given herself a shot at winning two major titles in the same year.

In many ways, this was already one of the most important and successful tournaments of Rybakina’s career. She arrived in New York with a golden opportunity to unlock one of the great achievements in this sport by becoming world No 1. Despite a scary Achilles injury in the build up to the tournament and a dire record at the US Open, she kept on moving forward.

In the aftermath of that massive success, which she sealed with a tense quarter-final win over Zheng Qinwen, Rybakina made it clear that she was far from satisfied and the job was not even half-finished. She was here for nothing less than the title. Now she will contend for it in a final that will mark the rekindling of the rivalry that has defined the season, facing the departing No 1 Aryna Sabalenka in a rematch of the Australian Open final won by Rybakina.

For Gauff, her growth over the past year has been defined by the dramatic improvement she has made to her serve, the shot that reduced her to tears on this court last year. This was the least of her issues here. Gauff was let down by her forehand, which produced 15 unforced errors and simply did not hold up under relentless pressure from one of the biggest shotmakers of the game.

This was a historic evening, the first time in 51 years that all four top seeds reached the semi-finals of the US Open women’s singles draw and the first occurrence in women’s singles at any major event since Wimbledon in 2009. It is a reflection of the strength of the group at the top of the women’s game, though, that this lineup was not at all surprising. By now, most of the top players have played each other countless times, but Rybakina and Gauff, the second and fourth seeds, have largely avoided each other in their careers. Their meeting last month in the Canadian Open, which Rybakina also won in three sets from a set down, was just the second time they have played each other.

After so many great serving days over the past few months, Gauff had arrived in the semi-finals with some doubts to quell after struggling with the shot in her dramatic comeback win over Mirra Andreeva, where she saved two match points but served 12 double faults. None of those first serve issues were present in the first set, where she served brilliantly in key moments while drawing countless errors from Rybakina with her defence to take the lead.

Rybakina has not played particularly well during this tournament, but she has managed every difficult situation well. Her response came immediately. Rybakina began the second set looking to open up the court against Gauff’s defence by hitting with greater width, uncorking a series of brilliant angled backhands. As she slowly began to find her range off the ground, she rushed to a 4-1 lead in the set. This was a scratchy set from both sides of the net but it was defined by Gauff’s desperate struggles with her hitchy forehand. Down 4-5, she produced her worst service game of the match, spraying three forehand errors and a double fault to give up the set.

The rise of Rybakina has been dictated by one of the most destructive weapons in the sport over the past few years: her serve. It finally came alive in the final set in the form of two thunderous aces to close out a service hold for 2-1. With her serve finally singing, allowing her to march through service games in the final set, the pressure was on Gauff to keep up. By the time she faced two break points at 2-3, Gauff was barely hanging on. Although she fought brilliantly to secure a hold, finding a couple of big serves for 3-3, she relinquished her serve at 3-4. Rybakina stepped up to the baseline to serve out the match.

As ever, Gauff fought desperately until the end and she made a spectacular last stand, breaking back for 4-5 after lasering a supreme backhand passing shot at 3-5, 30-30. But as she has done so many times this year, Rybakina quickly shook off her disappointment and forced herself inside the baseline again. She reached her first semi-final the hard way, immediately responding with a spectacular return game to snatch victory and move into a final between the two world No 1s.

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