ELENA RYBAKINA served emotional Aryna Sabalenka with a double whammy in New York as she earned the biggest prize money in Grand Slam history.
The Kazakhstan tennis ace, 27, came into this final with the knowledge that she would officially become the best player on the planet this week, replacing Sabalenka at the top of the world ranking.
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And now, to rub salt firmly in Sabalenka’s open wounds, she has gone and taken her US Open crown, too.
A hard-fought 6-4 5-7 6-2 victory on the Arthur Ashe Stadium represented Rybakina’s third career Slam and saw her bank balance boosted by a record £4.1million champions’ cheque.
It was Sabalenka’s first defeat in three years at Flushing Meadows and denied her the chance to become the third woman in the Open Era, after Chris Evert and Serena Williams, to achieve the ‘three-peat’ of Championships.
Hollywood actors Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain and Amy Adams cheered from the comfy seats as Rybakina inflicted a second major final loss this year on Sabalenka, eight months after her victory in the Australian Open in Melbourne.
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This was only the third US Open women’s singles final between world No.1 and world No.2 since 2000.
Yet regardless of the result, the pair were due to swap places, with Rybakina leapfrogging incumbent world No.1 Sabalenka – who had held the position for 99 weeks – at the top of the WTA rankings for the first time on Monday.
This was a real contrast of personalities – fiery Sabalenka, with a tiger tattoo on her left forearm, is the type of expressive, emotional person who wears their heart on their sleeve and screeches in moments of adversity.
In comparison, Russian-born Rybakina is a cool, calm and composed customer, who rarely smiles when she wins and hardly ever gets angry when she is behind.
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Even though she was the two-time defending champion, Sabalenka was not in the best frame of mind in the first set and struggled mentally, double-faulting to hand a crucial break to Rybakina in game five.
The Belarusian, 28, smacked a ball skyward in anger and was handed a warning from the chair umpire for ball abuse.
She only had herself to blame as there were far too many unforced errors coming off her racquet – 15 in set one compared to Rybakina’s five – nowhere near the level she was in the semi-final win over Jessica Pegula.
And Rybakina, the best server on the circuit, took the lead with 44 minutes on the clock.
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In 14 of the past 17 meetings between the duo, the winner of the first set had gone on to become the victor.
Sabalenka drew level in sets on her third set point, ensuring this final would be the third one in 10 editions to go to a deciding set.
However, she was unable to produce a stunning comeback in front of her celebrity-laden box, which included YouTuber Jake Paul, Olympic speed skating champion Jutta Leerdam, model Paris Hilton and Brazil’s World Cup football legend Ronaldo.
Rybakina, with fewer celeb pals, had a double break in set three and then closed out the result on her serve, after more than two-and-a-quarter hours of play, to hand her Eastern European rival a double blow.
Following a first loss in 21 matches in the Big Apple, Sabalenka went back to her chair and smashed her racquet on the ground in disgust.