Elena Rybakina swept past Emma Raducanu 6-1, 6-2 in 62 minutes Saturday, winning the first meeting of Grand Slam champions at the 2025 US Open.
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Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, advanced to the fourth round at Flushing Meadows for the first time in her seventh main-draw appearance. The Kazakhstani has now completed the full set of second-week showings at all four Grand Slams.
She will next face her successor as Wimbledon champion, 2023 titlist Marketa Vondrousova, who defeated No. 7 seed Jasmine Paolini 7-6(4), 6-1. The two 26-year-olds have been competing since their junior days and have split two pro meetings, with Vondrousova winning at Moscow 2021 and Rybakina at Rome 2023.
Rybakina has now conceded just four games to Raducanu in two meetings combined. Their first meeting was in the first round of Sydney 2022, Raducanu’s fourth tournament after her victory at the 2021 US Open. Rybakina won 6-0, 6-1.
“For some reason the US Open through the years wasn’t really successful for me,” Rybakina said in her on-court interview. “So hopefully this year it will change.”
Dominance by the numbers: Rybakina opened the match by clouting a perfectly timed forehand winner into the corner on the first point. It set the tone for near-flawless, and utterly dominant, hour on Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Rybakina slammed 23 winners in 15 games. Raducanu tallied eight, just one of which came in the first set.
Rybakina was untroubled on serve, conceding just three points behind her first delivery and never facing a break point. And while Raducanu’s serve had been the cornerstone of her wins over two qualifiers in the previous two rounds, the quality of Rybakina’s return was several steps up in quality. The Briton was only able to win 50% of the points on her serve overall, and a mere 29% behind her second delivery.
In total, Rybakina won 56 points to Raducanu’s 35.
Rybakina avoids the turning point: This summer, Rybakina has enjoyed solid form, coming into the US Open off the back of three consecutive semifinal runs in Washington, Montreal and Cincinnati. (By comparison, Raducanu’s recent resurgence was based on a semifinal and two third-round runs at the same tournaments.) At the start of August, Rybakina returned to the Top 10 after a four-month stint outside it.
However, repeated losses from winning positions have been a cause for concern. Rybakina lost to Iga Swiatek at Roland Garros from a set and 2-0 up; to Aryna Sabalenka in Berlin after holding quadruple match point; to Leylah Fernandez in Washington from a set and 3-1 up; and to Victoria Mboko in Montreal from 5-3 up in the decider, and after holding match point.
The only moment of danger against Raducanu came at 4-2 up in the second set, when Rybakina failed to take her first two points for the double break. However, she finished a superb exchange with a backhand winner to bring up a third, and took it after pounding another return at Raducanu’s feet to draw the error.
“I’m really happy with the performance,” Rybakina said. “It’s always not easy to play against Emma, sometimes the score doesn’t show but she’s a tough competitor.”
“Now I have no issues”: Rybakina’s 2025 season, which has seen her compile a 44-16 record, has been notable not just for her consistency but her health. Her 2023 and 2024 seasons were littered with retirements and withdrawals, including ahead of her third-round match at the US Open a year ago. But there have been none since.
“I had big issues with insomnia,” Rybakina explained. “I think l2023, the whole year was pretty tough for me. I played a lot, and we had different schedule. I was playing a lot night sessions, and we didn’t have that rule yet that you cannot go on court after 11:00. So I’ve been playing a lot and, as I said, many night matches. With Billie Jean King Cup this season was kind of long.
“Of course, coming to the next season 2024, I started again pretty well, and it was so many tournaments. I was playing until the end almost. So my insomnia was there, and I was struggling almost the whole year.
“But now it’s much better. Now I have no issues, which I’m pretty happy.”
