We went into a set: how the Russians performed at the US Open

Russian tennis players performed well at the 2026 U.S. Open. Karen Khachanov reached the semifinals of the US Open, Mirra Andreeva reached the quarterfinals. The winner of the women's tournament was Elena Rybakina, a native of Moscow, representing Kazakhstan. Thanks to her success in New York, Elena will rise to the top of the WTA rankings, and Belarusian Arina Sobolenko will lose her status as the best tennis player in the world.

The third "Helmet" of Rybakina

Arina Sobolenko and Elena Rybakina met in the final of the women's US Open. The rivals know each other very well. They have already played 17 official matches between themselves (the Belarusian won 10), and in the last 52 weeks they have met for the sixth time. Sobolenko was stronger in the quarterfinals of Wuhan 2025, in the finals of Indian Wells 2026 and the semifinals of Miami, but Rybakina won the main matches - the final of the Final WTA Championship last season and, of course, the title match of the Australian Open on the last day of January this year. After the first of these victories of Elena over Arina (in Riyadh), Sobolenko's emotional phrase about shooting a stick once a year spread widely.

Of course, the Belarusian said it not at a press conference, but on the court immediately after the defeat, but at that time there was not some secret, but quite official filming and broadcasting. It's hard to say how offended (and whether offended) Rybakina was, since she generally doesn't conflict with anyone in public, but is an introvert by nature, but the phrase has definitely become a meme in tennis circles.

And now, it turns out, there has already been the third such "shot" in a year and the second this season. At the same time, Arina was considered the favorite of the final. She was more confident in the tournament, facing real resistance only in the quarterfinals with Linda Noskova, while Elena fought back from 0:1 in sets, first against Zheng Qingwen in the quarterfinals, then against Coco Gauff in the semifinals. In addition, for Sobolenko it was the fourth US Open final in a row (and the eighth in a row at the hard "Slams", which is a new absolute record in the history of women's and men's tennis), and Rybakina went this far for the first time — previously her best result in New York was the 1/8 finals!

As a result, Elena won the final in three sets, as in the decisive match of the Australian Open – 2026 in January. Thus, the representative of Kazakhstan will rise to the top of the WTA rankings in the status of champion of two of the four "Slams" this season. And this is not such a common occurrence. Elena will be the 30th first racket of the world in the history of women's tennis (since November 1975, when the computer rating appeared), and seven of her predecessors became leaders without winning a single "major" by that time. Four then "corrected themselves," including Kim Kleisters, who eventually took four TBS. Dinara Safina and Jelena Jankovic ended their careers without these titles, and Karolina Pliskova will probably eventually join this Russian-Serbian company.

"The final was a success and kept me in suspense until the very last draw in the deciding set," said Alexei Selivanenko, a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame committee. — Lena and Arina demonstrated spectacular tennis at the highest speeds. Rybakina managed her emotions better and absolutely deservedly won. By taking the second "Grand Slam" tournament of the season, she confirmed her objective leadership in the championship race. Congratulations to her and her entire team.

The prize was presented to Elena by Maria Sharapova. This year marks exactly 20 years since Maria herself lifted the main prize of the US Open over her head. """"By the way, now Rybakina has already won three different majors, and for her career "Slam", like Sharapova in the period from early 2008 to mid-2012, she lacks only "Roland Garros".

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Khachanov's breakthrough in the ranking

Mirra Andreeva reached the furthest of the Russians in the women's draw, losing to Coco Gauff in the quarterfinals. In the men's bracket, Karen Khachanov reached the semifinals. In New York, Karen beat two serious opponents: Felix Auger-Alliassim in the second round and Lerner Tien in the fourth. True, the Canadian felt bad starting from the second set, but with the American it turned out to be a real five-set battle, in which Khachanov won back from 1:2 in games. But the quarterfinals with Alexander Bloks turned out to be easy for the Russian. Karen dominated, confidently took his serves, and the Belgian was getting more and more worried about injuries. As a result, Blocks withdrew at 0:2 in sets, losing serve in the third game.

Karen had to play against first-seeded Alexander Zverev to reach the debut final of the "Slam". "Russian—born German led 6-3 in personal meetings, and 5-3 on hard court. Karen managed to get the upper hand in three fights at the Masters, including Paris 2018, where he eventually became champion, and the Toronto 2025 semifinal." The only previous match between them in a five-set format took place at "Roland Garros" in the same year 2018 and ended with Alexander's victory in the decisive game. Well, the most important match between them was played in the final of the 2021 Olympics, where Zverev easily dealt with Khachanov — 6:3, 6:1.

This time, Alexander won again, although Karen gave the real fight to the favorite. Two of the three games ended in a tie-break. Khachanov had set points in both of them, but in the end he missed the advantage. Thus, the Russian continued his terrible series of tie-breaks on the hard court. He has already lost 10 "tennis lotteries" in a row and 18 of the last 19! It started with a defeat in the extended, champion tiebreak of the fifth game in the second round of the US Open - 2025 with Kamil Maikhshak, and Karen had the only successful tiebreak on hard courts this year in Doha–2026, winning the first set against Carlos Alcaraz — however, the match remained for the Spaniard.

—The Zverev–Khachanov semifinal turned out to be interesting, I enjoyed it," former world number one Evgeny Kafelnikov told Izvestia. — I think that all the viewers have experienced this feeling too. The semi—final is a brilliant result, the best result of the season for Karen. Therefore, we must not lower our heads.

Let's remind that Khachanov came to New York with a series of four defeats and only the 50th racket of the world. After the US Open, he will add 24 positions.