Elena Rybakina's US Open title run puts her on top of women's tennis and Sabalenka has work to do

NEW YORK (AP) — Elena Rybakina was going to see her name on top of the women's tennis rankings Monday no matter what happened in the U.S. Open final.

Still, it wouldn't have felt quite the same to pass Aryna Sabalenka and become No. 1 in a tournament where Sabalenka then beat Rybakina to defend her title. It would not only have been confusing to casual fans, but a letdown to the player.

Nothing to worry about there. Rybakina was too good for Sabalenka and anyone else in the sport right now, so her 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 victory Sunday triggered a dual celebration.

“I feel that it’s going to be amazing to wake up knowing that you achieved such big things,” Rybakina said.

There could be more to come. The 27-year-old who was born in Russia but represents Kazakhstan is on top of her game, with two Grand Slam titles in 2026. She beat Sabalenka in both finals, and even the former No. 1 concedes it would be tough to get back to the top if Rybakina stays at the level she displayed in Flushing Meadows.

“She continues to play like that, then yeah, I’m in trouble,” Sabalenka said.

The 28-year-old from Belarus had won the previous two U.S. Open titles, appeared in three straight finals and reached at least the semifinals every year since 2021. Rybakina, meanwhile, had never even gotten past the fourth round before this year.

“For some reason, New York wasn’t my best place for tennis for the past years," Rybakina said, "but definitely now it changed.”

So much has at the top of women's tennis.

It began toward the end of 2025, when Rybakina beat Sabalenka for the title at the season-ending WTA Finals. Then it was the same result at the Australian Open final, and Rybakina has gone on to match Sabalenka and French Open winner Mirra Andreeva with a tour-high three titles. Her 49 victories are one behind No. 3 Jessica Pegula for tops this year.

“I always believed that it’s possible,” Rybakina said. "We’ve been having great results. Of course, not every year is the same. I won Wimbledon in 2022. Then I wasn’t winning the Slams, but I played the final of the Australian Open the next year. I think we were always there.

“I feel like now I have a great team, great people around me, and we just continue the work. It finally paid off.”

Rybakina played so well over the past year — and Sabalenka struggled this summer — that she was assured of accumulating enough points to move up from No. 2 if she reached the semifinals at the U.S. Open. Perhaps the only thing that could have prevented that was a foot injury that Rybakina sustained at the Cincinnati Open. She stopped playing in her quarterfinal match against Iga Swiatek and then couldn't get back on the court for a few days.

So Rybakina had a lot weighing on her mind in New York, but it never seemed to affect her tennis.

“I feel like this tournament was just kind of more stressful because I was playing for No. 1 one of the matches, and then, of course, this injury which happened the week before,” Rybakina said. “So every day was kind of a challenge, but I felt like in these situations I was more calm than when similar things were happening before.”

She now needs only the French Open title to complete the career Grand Slam, and that one always figured to be the toughest to get because the red clay slows her powerful shots in ways that hard courts and grass can't.

There will surely be more meetings at the big events with Sabalenka, who held the No. 1 ranking for 99 consecutive weeks.

“Ninety-nine?” Sabalenka said. “Well, that’s amazing. Let’s see if Elena can beat me in that,” she said with a laugh.

Sabalenka still leads their rivalry 10-8, and they have split four meetings this year. But Rybakina won the matches that mattered most.

“I don’t know what future will bring, but it’s always very difficult matches against Aryna, and I feel like we push each other to be better after such tough battles,” Rybakina said.

“I don’t know what future is going to bring, but I hope success and some more wins.”

See AP’s full tennis coverage here

Elena Rybakina, of Kazakhstan, gestures after she won the women's singles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships against Aryna Sabalenka, of Belarus, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Aryna Sabalenka, of Belarus, reacts as she speaks following her lose to Elena Rybakina, of Kazakhstan, in the women's singles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Elena Rybakina, of Kazakhstan, holds the trophy after she won the women's singles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships against Aryna Sabalenka, of Belarus, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Aryna Sabalenka, of Belarus, left, and Elena Rybakina, of Kazakhstan, right, hold up their trophies after Rybakina won the women's singles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Elena Rybakina, of Kazakhstan, holds up her trophy after winning the women's singles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships against Aryna Sabalenka, of Belarus, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Monday that Russian drone strikes near the Ukraine-Poland border — one of which hit a train shortly after senior visiting officials had passed through the same station — would drive the military alliance to increase its support for Kyiv, calling Sunday's attacks a sign of Moscow's growing desperation.

The strikes “close to NATO territory” show Russian President Vladimir Putin’s "desperation and also his desire to sow fear and terror,” Rutte said at NATO’s political headquarters in Brussels. “Russia is growing increasingly reckless as it continues its terrible war against Ukraine.”

Rutte pledged to increase support for Ukraine and bolster the 32-nation alliance’s own defenses along its long eastern border with Russia.

“He thinks that he can stop us from supporting Ukraine and that he can undermine our unity. He is wrong,” the NATO chief said of Putin.

Sunday’s strikes near the Polish border are the latest in a string of incidents that officials say point to a deliberate pattern of escalation by Putin, as Moscow tests NATO’s response while pressing its offensive in Ukraine.

Rutte's comments came as Poland pledged increased security along its border with Ukraine after a wave of Russian drone strikes near the frontier, including two that landed within kilometers of Polish territory.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned Sunday that Moscow appears poised to intensify its campaign against Ukraine’s borders with European countries. Ukraine is under mounting pressure from Russia’s intensifying air campaign that uses ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones to pierce defenses.

“These coming weeks and months will be a time of very intensified actions on the Russian side, and unfortunately we cannot rule out that this escalation will also affect our territory,” Tusk said Sunday after a governmental security briefing in Warsaw. He issued a similar warning on Thursday.

Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said Monday in a post on X that the Polish army recovered what was believed to be a Russian military drone from the Baltic Sea near the coastal village of Jaroslawiec.

Polish officials said intelligence reports, including a CIA briefing last week, suggested Russia was likely to attack border points and intensify sabotage actions inside European countries as part of its efforts to discourage partners from supporting Ukraine.

Tusk said he would consult NATO allies on preparing a potential joint response.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski underscored the alliance’s military edge in a social media post, saying that in the event of Russian aggression against NATO, European NATO air forces, without U.S. participation, would be capable of destroying half of Russia’s oil refineries faster than Ukraine.

Deputy Defense Minister Cezary Tomczyk described Sunday’s drone strikes as a serious escalation from Russia. He told broadcaster TVN24 on Monday that any spillover into European countries could take the form of sabotage or a sharp intensification of hybrid warfare “on a scale that we have not seen before,” or other actions along NATO’s borders.

The warnings followed a strike Sunday on a train near the Ukraine-Poland border, minutes after a diplomatic delegation that included former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt had passed through the same station, according to Ukraine’s state rail operator. A second strike hit near a separate border crossing point between Poland and Ukraine.

Kaja Kallas, the European Union's top diplomat, said Monday that the drone attacks near Poland's border were “clearly meant to scare Western countries from supporting Ukraine.”

“We should show that we are there for Ukraine and we are not scared,” she said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, asked Monday about the strike on the train near the Polish border, said Russian forces were operating “across the entire territory of Ukraine and continues to do so — and will continue to do so.”

Peskov noted the potential role of Global South nations in a settlement, saying “any country can use its influence on the Kyiv regime to encourage it to show greater flexibility.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi each expressed willingness to help broker a settlement during recent meetings with Putin, who briefed them on the situation in Ukraine, Peskov said.

Peskov also addressed U.S. President Donald Trump’s call for Ukraine to halt strikes on Russian diesel fuel facilities, saying “any call on the Kyiv regime to stop strikes on civilian economic infrastructure can only be welcomed.”

Trump on Sunday called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to halt strikes on Russian oil refineries and other infrastructure used to produce and distribute diesel, saying the attacks are causing a global shortage. He spoke after diesel prices in the U.S. hit a record on Friday, soaring past an average of $6 per gallon.

Morton reported from London. Sam McNeil in Brussels contributed to this report.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

FILE - Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk arrives for the EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, June 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Havana, File)

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, right, speaks during a joint news conference with Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (AP Photo)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Ukrzaliznytsia Railway Company Press Office, a locomotive damaged in a Russian drone attack is seen at Yahodyn railway station near Ukraine's border with Poland, Ukraine, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (Ukrainian Ukrzaliznytsia Railway Company Press Office via AP)