Rybakina defeats Osaka, eyes No. 1 ranking pending quarterfinal win

Elena Rybakina advanced to the U.S. Open quarterfinals with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Naomi Osaka, moving one win away from the top spot in the women’s rankings. The No. 2 seed will meet China’s Zheng Qinwen, who reached the last eight after a dramatic comeback against Iga Swiatek.

Rybakina, who captured the Australian Open title earlier this year, said she is focused on the next match: "Of course I want it, I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t wish this, but definitely that’s one of my goals. I try to approach the same way, try to do everything I can, fight until the end my next match and let’s see what’s going to happen."

If she reaches the semifinals, she is guaranteed to overtake Aryna Sabalenka for the world No. 1 ranking, even if she later loses. A loss would still leave her in contention, provided Sabalenka, Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula do not win the title.

Zheng, the 2024 Olympic gold medalist, described her previous comeback against Madison Keys as a matter of luck: "I guess to come back 0-5 yesterday is not lucky, that’s all I can say."

The match between Rybakina and Osaka lasted just over an hour, with the Kazakh player closing the contest with an ace and leading the tour in that statistic. Osaka appeared to be hampered by a foot or ankle issue.

Other quarterfinals featured Coco Gauff defeating Iva Jovic and Mirra Andreeva advancing after a three-set win over Anastasia Potapova. In the men’s draw, Botic van de Zandschulp survived a five-set marathon to set up a meeting with top seed Alexander Zverev.