Kazakh star reaches semi-finals, but says third Grand Slam title remains her priority.

Elena Rybakina is on the verge of reaching the pinnacle of women’s tennis, but the Kazakh star insists becoming world number one is secondary to her pursuit of another Grand Slam title at the US Open.

Rybakina secured her place at the top of the WTA rankings after fighting back to defeat Paris Olympics gold medallist Zheng Qinwen in three sets in the quarter-finals. The victory guaranteed that she will overtake Aryna Sabalenka and become world number one for the first time in her career.

The achievement marks another major milestone in an already decorated career for the 26-year-old, who has established herself as one of the leading forces in women’s tennis since winning her maiden Grand Slam at Wimbledon in 2022.

Yet despite the significance of reaching the summit, Rybakina was quick to shift the focus back to the tournament itself and the possibility of adding another major trophy to her collection.

“It means a lot, of course,” Rybakina said after her quarter-final victory.

“It’s a great achievement, and I feel like you will appreciate and think about it even more when you finish your career,” Rybakina said.

“Now, you still need to keep on going. I want to win the titles still in the tournaments, so all my thoughts are just for the next match.”

That next challenge will be a formidable one.

Rybakina will face fourth-seeded former champion Coco Gauff in the semi-finals, with a place in the US Open final at stake.

Grand Slam ambitions come first

Rybakina’s determination to remain focused on winning titles rather than rankings is understandable given how quickly her career has developed.

She claimed her second Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January, adding to the Wimbledon crown she won four years earlier.

A victory at Flushing Meadows would therefore give her a third major title and further establish her among the elite players of her generation.

The opportunity is particularly significant given the physical problems she has had to overcome in the build-up to the tournament.

A heel injury forced Rybakina to withdraw from the WTA tournament in Cincinnati last month, raising questions over whether she would be fully fit for the final Grand Slam of the season.

The injury was severe enough to leave her struggling to walk without pain for several days.

She subsequently had to carefully balance training, rest and treatment as she attempted to get herself ready for New York.

“It was not ideal, and I was stressed, of course,” Rybakina said as the tournament got underway.

Despite those concerns, she has produced one of her strongest runs at the US Open, reaching the semi-finals without dropping a set in her opening four rounds before overcoming Zheng in the quarter-finals.

Rybakina overcoming obstacles

Her route to the last four has included significant victories over four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka and Yuliia Starodubtseva, who had defeated Rybakina in the second round of the French Open earlier this year.

Those wins have demonstrated both her quality and her ability to recover from difficult setbacks.

Even her quarter-final victory over Zheng required considerable resilience.

Rybakina lost the opening set, a situation that had historically proved problematic for her at the US Open. Before this tournament, she had lost all six of her previous US Open matches in which she dropped the first set.

Against Zheng, however, she managed to reverse that trend and produce the comeback required to reach the semi-finals.

The match was made more difficult by conditions on court, with Rybakina finding the awkward shading particularly challenging.

Rather than allowing those distractions and the pressure of the occasion to derail her, she gradually found her rhythm and fought her way back into the contest.

“Very difficult match, very stressful,” she said.

“A lot of thoughts going through the head in the beginning but glad that I managed to find a way.”

One step closer to the summit

The result means Rybakina can now look ahead to a semi-final against Gauff with the confidence of knowing that her long-awaited rise to world number one is already secured.

But for the Kazakh star, the ranking milestone is unlikely to overshadow the bigger prize.

Two victories stand between her and a third Grand Slam championship.

The combination of her recent Australian Open triumph, her Wimbledon success and her latest run in New York underlines Rybakina’s growing consistency at the sport’s biggest tournaments.

After overcoming injury concerns and an early deficit against Zheng, she now has an opportunity to cap the campaign with the biggest prize of all — a US Open title and the world number one ranking arriving together.

For Rybakina, however, the order of priorities is clear.

The ranking may be historic, but the trophy remains the target.