New York, Sep 11 (V7N)- Elena Rybakina has reached the US Open women’s singles final for the first time after overcoming American fourth seed Coco Gauff 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in a hard-fought semifinal.

Rybakina recovered from losing the opening set to turn the match around and secure her place in Saturday’s final, where she will face defending champion Aryna Sabalenka.

Sabalenka booked her place in the final earlier Thursday by defeating third seed Jessica Pegula 7-5, 6-2. The Belarusian is now one victory away from winning the US Open for a third consecutive year.

Serena Williams was the last woman to win three straight US Open titles, achieving the feat from 2012 to 2014. Sabalenka can now become only the third woman in the Open Era to accomplish the same feat, alongside Williams and Chris Evert.

Rybakina has already secured the world No. 1 ranking following the tournament. She defeated Sabalenka in the Australian Open final in January and will now attempt to beat her again on the biggest stage in New York.

Against Gauff, Rybakina struggled to find her rhythm early. Gauff secured a break in the sixth game and went on to take the opening set 6-3 in front of a packed crowd that included former US First Lady Michelle Obama.

The Kazakh star responded strongly in the second set, taking advantage of several errors from Gauff to win 6-4 and level the match. She then used her powerful serve and aggressive baseline play to take control of the deciding set.

Rybakina moved ahead 5-3 in the final set, and although Gauff briefly fought back by breaking serve, she could not hold her own service game. Rybakina broke again to close out the match and reach her first US Open final.

Meanwhile, Sabalenka overcame a slow start against Pegula before taking control in the second set. Her powerful groundstrokes forced Pegula into a series of errors as the Belarusian completed a 7-5, 6-2 victory.

With Gauff and Pegula eliminated, no American player will feature in a women’s singles Grand Slam final this year, marking the first such occurrence since 2006.

The women’s final is scheduled for Saturday, with Rybakina seeking her second Grand Slam title and Sabalenka chasing a third straight US Open crown.

In the men’s singles semifinals, Americans Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe will meet, while top seed Alexander Zverev will face Russia’s Karen Khachanov.

END/SMA/AJ