Coco Gauff’s U.S. Open Run Ends in Semifinal Thriller as Elena Rybakina Reaches Final

Coco Gauff’s bid for a second U.S. Open title ended Thursday night in a three-set semifinal, as Elena Rybakina rallied to beat the American 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 and reach the final in New York for the first time.

The match turned on small margins rather than a one-sided collapse. Gauff took control of the opening set after earning the only break and benefited from 18 unforced errors by Rybakina. But the second seed steadied her game, moved ahead 4-1 in the second set and, after Gauff fought back to 4-4, broke again to force a decider.

Rybakina created the decisive separation in the third set by breaking for a 5-3 lead. Gauff answered immediately, using a backhand passing shot to earn her first break point of the set and level the score. Rybakina responded with another break in the next game, closing out the victory after two hours and eight minutes.

The result gives Rybakina a new milestone in a season that has already changed her place in the sport. She secured the world No. 1 ranking during the tournament and now becomes only the fifth player in the past two decades to reach both the Australian Open and U.S. Open finals in the same calendar year, according to the WTA.

For Gauff, the defeat is a sharp ending to a run that had already required considerable resilience. In the quarterfinals, she came back against Mirra Andreeva after dropping the first set and saved two match points in the second-set tiebreak. Against Rybakina, she again won the opening set, but could not protect the service games that mattered most late in the match.

“I thought it was a good match,” Gauff said afterward, adding that the outcome came down to “a couple of service games” in which she did not hold. Her assessment captured the narrowness of the result: Rybakina did not overwhelm her opponent from the start, but she managed the pressure points more effectively once the match tightened.

Rybakina’s opponent in Saturday’s final will be Aryna Sabalenka, who defeated No. 3 seed Jessica Pegula 7-5, 6-2 earlier Thursday. Sabalenka has now reached her fourth consecutive U.S. Open final and extended her winning streak at the tournament to 20 matches.

The final also carries the weight of an ongoing rivalry. Rybakina and Sabalenka will meet for the 18th time, with Sabalenka leading their head-to-head record 10-7. It will be their second Grand Slam final of 2026 after Rybakina won the Australian Open championship match.

That history gives the final a significance beyond the trophy itself. Sabalenka has dominated the New York stage in recent years, while Rybakina arrives as the newly crowned No. 1 player and the woman who has already stopped her once in a major final this season. Gauff’s exit leaves the American crowd without a home finalist, but it also clears the way for a championship match between the two players who have most clearly shaped the season’s hard-court narrative.