World No. 2 Elena Rybakina exacted revenge for her French Open defeat to Yuliia Starodubtseva on Saturday, overcoming the unseeded Ukrainian 7-6(6), 6-3 to book her place in the US Open last 16.

The big-hitting Kazakh, who captured her second Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January, had suffered a second-round loss to Starodubtseva at Roland Garros earlier this year. That defeat appeared to linger as Rybakina struggled to settle into the contest during a tense opening set.

Starodubtseva capitalised on some inconsistent forehand play from Rybakina, breaking to move 5-4 ahead. However, the Kazakh quickly responded, producing an excellent angled drop shot to win the break back and level the set.

The first set ultimately went to a tiebreak, where Rybakina showed her composure. She saved a set point with one of her 12 aces before edging ahead to take the opener.

Rybakina carried that momentum into the second set, immediately putting pressure on her opponent. A double fault from Starodubtseva handed Rybakina an early break, and the second seed never surrendered her advantage as she wrapped up the victory in just under two hours.

“It was a tough match,” Rybakina said. “I feel like it wasn’t my best performance, but Yuliia, she’s a great player. Last time we had a battle, too, and I’m glad I could win in straight sets.”

The victory also keeps Rybakina’s hopes of becoming the world No. 1 firmly alive. She needs just two more wins to reach the semi-finals and guarantee that she will overtake Aryna Sabalenka at the top of the rankings, even if Sabalenka successfully defends her US Open crown for a third consecutive year.

However, Rybakina is refusing to look too far ahead.

“Not there yet,” she said. “It’s still very far. I need to focus on my next match and not think about it.”

Standing between Rybakina and the quarter-finals is four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka, who advanced after defeating Belgium’s Elise Mertens 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 in a hard-fought encounter.

US Open 2026

The US Open is the fourth and final Grand Slam tournament of the tennis season, taking place from August 30 to September 13. The prestigious hard-court event is staged at Flushing Meadows in New York City.