After a commanding first-round victory at the US Open, Elena Rybakina kept her bid to become the new WTA world No. 1 firmly alive. However, the Kazakhstani then revealed that she had a full seven days without training due to a sudden left ankle injury, which had cut short her campaign at the Cincinnati Open and put her US Open participation in major doubt.
Rybakina currently holds the No. 1 spot in the WTA live rankings. However, to dethrone Aryna Sabalenka and secure the official top spot after the US Open, she must reach the semifinals — or could secure it earlier if Sabalenka, Pegula and Gauff are all eliminated before then. The semifinals are two rounds further than her previous tournament best at Flushing Meadows, which was reaching the fourth round in 2025.
Sporting her new asymmetrical Yonex Women’s NYC Dress, the two-time Grand Slam champion eased past 17-year-old American wildcard Thea Frodin with a 6-3 6-2 victory on Grandstand. Rybakina looked dominant on serve, firing six aces and refusing to surrender a single break point during the 74-minute contest.
Despite the routine scoreline, Rybakina remains highly cautious about her physical health. Her North American hard-court swing had started strong with a run to the Toronto final, but momentum shifted abruptly during the Cincinnati quarterfinals. Managing just five games against Poland’s Iga Swiatek, Rybakina was forced to retire and was not even able to walk without pain. It was just ten days before her opener in New York.
In her on-court interview after the first-round win at the US Open, Rybakina kept her expectations modest:
We’ll see day by day. I’m glad that I played the match, I won the match. We’ll see how I’m gonna feel tomorrow. Because I had to take quite a break. I wasn’t playing or doing much physically. For me now a step at a time. The most important is to recover and listen to the body, but for now it’s been okay.
When asked about her motivation to capture the ultimate ranking crown, she added:
I’m definitely motivated. I feel like I had opportunities before and it didn’t go my way. Of course everybody plays really well. As I said, with this injury, I feel like for me each day is important. Of course it would be an amazing achievement but it’s still too far. I need to focus on my day off tomorrow, recovery, and then just keep on going.
