The 2026 Elena Rybakina tennis season officially began on 4 January 2026, with the start of the Brisbane International in Brisbane.
During this season, Rybakina: Won her second and third major titles at Australian Open and US Open. Became 30th player to reach the world no. 1 on 14 September 2026. Won title in Stuttgart and reached the final of Indian Wells Open and Canadian Open. Became the first player in 8 years to win the WTA Finals and Australian Open back to back. Became third player since 2000 to win both hard court majors in a single year. Became the fourth player to defeat both the World No. 1 and No. 2 at the same event three times or more. At the Qatar Open she registered her 400th career win by defeating Wang Xinyu in second round.
Yearly summary
Early hard court season
Rybakina began her season at the Brisbane International where she lost to Karolína Muchová in the quarterfinals. This marked an end to Rybakina's 13-match long winning streak since October.
Australian Open
At the Australian Open, seeded 5th, she reached her first major quarterfinals since 2024 Wimbledon Championships. She then defeated World No. 2 Iga Świątek, in the quarterfinals and World No. 6 Jessica Pegula in the semifinals to reach her second Australian Open final. There, she defeated World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka from 0–3 down in third set in a rematch of their 2023 Australian Open final, winning her first Australian Open and second major title overall becoming only the 4th women in open era to defeat the World No. 1 and World No. 2 en route to an Australian Open title. As a result, she moved to No. 3 in the world rankings for the first time since early 2024.
Middle-East Swing
Following her Australian Open victory, Rybakina next participated in Qatar Open. In the second round she defeated Wang Xinyu to register her 400th career win while simultaneously completing 400 matches on the WTA Tour. She then defeated Zheng Qinwen coming from a set down to reach the quarter finals where she lost to Victoria Mboko 5–7, 6–4, 4–6 despite being up 4–2 in third set.
She then participated at the Dubai Open where she was seeded first for the first time at a WTA 1000 tournament. She defeated Kimberly Birrell 6–1, 6–4 in the second round before retiring against Antonia Ružić because of illness.
Sunshine Doubles
Before the beginning of Indian Wells Open she participated in the mixed doubles exhibition Tie Break Tens partnering with Taylor Fritz where they were the defending champions. The pair defeated Jasmine Paolini/Matteo Berrettini and Iga Świątek/Casper Ruud to reach the final where they defeated Amanda Anisimova/Learner Tien 10–7 to win the tournament for second consecutive year.
She began her Indian Wells campaign by defeating Hailey Baptiste 7–6(7–5), 2–6, 6–2 in the hard-fought second round after receiving first round bye. She then defeated 28th seed Marta Kostyuk and Sonay Kartal to reach her 19th WTA 1000 quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals, she knocked out Jessica Pegula to reach semifinals. As a result of her win she would reach her career high World Rank 2. She defeated ninth seed Elina Svitolina in the semifinal to set up a rematch of 2023 Indian Wells Open with World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka, won by Rybakina.This was her 12th consecutive victory over a top 10 player becoming the fifth player to do so in 21st century after Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Justin Henin, and Iga Świątek. In the final she lost the match 6–3, 3–6, 6–7(6–8) after being having a championship point on her serve.
After receiving a bye in the first round, she defeated compatriot Yulia Putintseva to kickstart her Miami Open campaign. She then defeated 27th seed Marta Kostyuk and qualifier Talia Gibson to reach the quarterfinals. In the quartefinal she defeated fifth seed Jessica Pegula in three sets after being down a set, this was her fifth win over Pegula in seven months. Her run ended in semifinals after a straight set loss to Aryna Sabalenka.
Clay court season
Rybakina began her clay season at Stuttgart as the first seed and received bye in the first round. She defeated Diana Shnaider in the second round to reach quarter-final. In the quarter-finals she came back from a set down, and saved two match points to defeat Leylah Fernandez. She defeated Mirra Andreeva in the semifinals to reach her third final of the year. In the final she defeated Karolína Muchová to win Stuttgart Open for the second time in her career. This was also her second title of the year.
Rybakina received a bye in the first round as the second seed. In the second round she defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse 4–6, 6–3, 7–5 in comeback win after being a set down and also a break down in third set. She registered another comeback win against Zheng Qinwen 4–6, 6–4, 6–3 in a controversial third round match before losing to lucky loser Anastasia Potapova in the next round.
She received a bye in the first round as the second seed. She then defeated Maria Sakkari, Alexandra Eala, and Karolina Pliskova all in straight sets to reach quarterfinals where she lost to Elina Svitolina converting just 4 of 20 break points.
French Open
Rybakina began her French Open campaign with a dominant straight sets victory over Veronika Erjavec before being stunned in the second round by Yulia Starodubtseva in the next round her earliest loss at the tournament since 2020 and at a major since 2024 Australian Open. She was also in contention for WTA No. 1 ranking for the first time in her career at the beginning of the tournament.
Grass court season
Rybakina began her grass court season with a bye into second round of Queens Club as the top seed. She avenged her last year's quarterfinal loss by defeating defending champion Tatjana Maria in second round after trailing by a set and 4–5(0–30) in the second set by winning 9 consecutive games and 12 consecutive points to finish the match.However, she was stunned in the quarterfinal by home favourite Katie Boulter.
Rybakina then lost to Alexandra Eala in the second round of Berlin after receiving bye in the first round. This was first time since March 2026 when Rybakina lost two consecutive matches.
Wimbledon
She defeated Loïs Boisson in the tough three-setter first round, which was also her 300th win on WTA Tour. She then defeated Caty McNally in straight sets in the second round. She next lost to Elise Mertens for second consecutive third round exit in the tournament. Rybakina was also in contention for World No. 1 at the beginning of the tournament.
North American hard court swing
As the second seed, Rybakina received a bye into the second round of the 2026 Canadian Open. She prevailed in a tough second round match against Daria Kasatkina in three sets, and saved two set points in the third round against Ann Li, winning four consecutive games from 3–5 down in the second set. She then made a comeback from 0–3 down in the third set to win 6–4, 4–6, 6–4 thriller against Ludmilla Samsonova to reach the quarterfinal. There, she came back from a set and a break down against former World No. 1 Naomi Osaka, to win 4–6, 7–6(7-5), 6–4. Reaching her third consecutive semifinal at the tournament, she set up her second meeting with Coco Gauff. In the semifinals, Rybakina made another comeback against Gauff from a set down, winning thrteen consecutive points in the second set en route to a 5–7, 6–2, 6–2 victory, in a match that finished at nearly 1:00 AM local time. Contesting her seventh WTA 1000-level final less than 24 hours later, she lost to Iga Świątek, stating after the match that "the tank was half-empty today. I tried my best but it wasn't enough." Rybakina was in contention to become World No.1 at the beginning of the tournament, however Aryna Sabalenka retained the ranking by reaching the fourth round.
At the Cincinnati Open, Rybakina again received a bye as the second seed, and defeated Taylor Townsend, Magdalena Fręch, and 14th seeded Diana Shnaider, all in straight sets, to reach the quarterfinals, setting up a rematch of the previous week's final in Toronto against Iga Świątek. After Aryna Sabalenka's fourth-round loss at the tournament, Rybakina needed to reach the final in order to obtain the World No. 1 ranking. However, she retired in the first set against Świątek down 1–4 after an sustaining an injury in her left foot.
US Open
Rybakina's participation in the US Open was doubtful after her injury in Cincinnati. However, after a week of injury she started practice and confirmed her participation. She would be in contention to become world No.1 at the end of the tournament.
Rybakina started her campaign with a straight sets victory over wildcard Thea Frodin without getting broken in the entire match. She registered another straight sets victory against Jessica Bouzas Maneiro to reach third round. She came from a break down and saved a set point to defeat Yulia Starodubtseva, avenging her French Open loss to Ukrainian earlier in the year. Rybakina put on a dominant show in the fourth round to beat former champion Naomi Osaka in straight sets without getting broken to reach her first ever US Open quarterfinal. Talking about her performance in the match in post-match press conference, Rybakina said 'it was one of the best matches she's ever played'. After losing the first set, Rybakina produced a comeback win against Zheng Qinwen to reach the semis and secure No. 1 spot in the WTA ranking for the first time in her career. She became the 30th player to reach no.1, first representing Kazakhstan and the second oldest first-time no.1 in the WTA history younger than only Angelique Kerber. She made another comeback from a set down in the semifinal to defeat local favourite Coco Gauff to reach her fourth major final and set up a rematch of their Australian Open final with Aryna Sabalenka. This was the only second time that same players faced off in the final of both hard court majors in the same year since Steffi Graf and Arantxa Sánchez Vicario. She also became the fifth player since 2000 to reach the final of both hardcourt majors in the same year.
In the final, she ended the 19-match US Open winning streak of two-time defending champion, World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka to win the third major title of her career and her first US Open title. She became the third player in 21st century after Angelique Kerber and Sabalenka to win both Australian Open and US Open in the same year. She also became the first player to qualify for the WTA Finals following her performance in the tournament.
All matches
This table chronicles all the matches of Elena Rybakina in 2026.
Singles matches