Elena Rybakina has officially locked up the year-end women’s singles world No. 1 ranking. The 27-year-old beat fellow Kazakh Yulia Putintseva 6-2, 6-3 in the last 16 of the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, a result that puts her beyond reach in the rankings race.
Elena Rybakina (Credits: BBC Sport)
Elena Rybakina Year-End No. 1: How She Sealed It in Tokyo
Rybakina, who represents Kazakhstan, fired six aces and hit 25 winners against Putintseva after a first-round bye, setting up a quarter-final with former US Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez — a player she thrashed 6-2, 6-2 in the Ningbo Open final just last week. That Ningbo title was her fourth trophy of 2026.
It caps a stellar season: Rybakina won both the Australian Open and US Open, beating Aryna Sabalenka in both finals, and wrested the world No. 1 spot from the Belarusian on the way to her Flushing Meadows triumph in September.
The 2026 Season That Built a No. 1
Rybakina’s charge began in late 2025, when she took Ningbo and the WTA Finals before defeating Sabalenka again in the Australian Open final — her second Slam crown, nearly four years after her first at Wimbledon. There were stumbles along the way: early exits at the French Open and Wimbledon, a loss to Iga Swiatek in the Toronto final, and a left ankle injury that forced her retirement against Swiatek in Cincinnati.
But the US Open win — clinched after a quarter-final victory over China’s Zheng Qinwen that guaranteed her rise to No. 1 for the first time — left the year-end top spot unassailable. Her next assignment: defending her title at the season-ending WTA Finals from November 8-15 in Indian Wells.
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Source: BBC Sport — read the full story there.
