5 million! Sabalenka successfully defends her US Open women's singles title, causing a major shake-up in the WTA world rankings: Zheng Qinwen drops

On September 7th Beijing time, the US Open women's singles final concluded with world No.1 Sabalenka facing the prodigy Anisimova. Sabalenka swept her opponent 2-0 in straight sets to successfully defend her title. This victory made Sabalenka the big winner of the event, earning a luxurious $5 million prize. Meanwhile, Sabalenka's defense caused significant disruption in the WTA rankings: Zheng Qinwen fell to seventh place!

Sabalenka is a powerful player who reached the semifinals in all four Grand Slams this season with impressive results. However, she lost to American players at the Australian Open, French Open, and Wimbledon, failing to claim the title and carrying heavy pressure. At this US Open, Sabalenka entered as the defending champion and showed dominance again by reaching the final, coincidentally facing another American player. In the first set, despite trailing 2-3, she won four consecutive games to take it 6-3. In the second set, both players exchanged breaks and the score went back and forth. Sabalenka fought back from 4-5 down to level at 6-all, then dominated the tiebreak 7-6, completing a 2-0 sweep over Anisimova. This victory avenged her Wimbledon loss and secured her successful title defense, perfectly capping off her season!

Although Anisimova reached back-to-back finals at Wimbledon and the US Open, her results were unfortunate as she finished runner-up both times. She caused an upset over Sabalenka at Wimbledon but was then swept 6-0, 6-0 by Swiatek in the final. At the US Open, she avenged that loss against Swiatek but was defeated by Sabalenka in the final. This seems to be her fate so far. Anisimova clearly has the ability to win titles but needs to improve her mental toughness, as she tends to get impatient and make many unforced errors during matches. Nevertheless, her season has been impressive, winning a WTA 1000 title, finishing runner-up at two Grand Slams, and rising to fourth in the world rankings!

With Sabalenka winning the US Open, she has reached the semifinals in all four Grand Slams this season, achieving a record of 1 title, 2 runner-ups, and 1 semifinal — a truly consistent performance worthy of the world No.1 ranking. After the US Open, the rankings have been shaken up: Swiatek is second, Gauff third, Anisimova climbs to fourth, and Keys, Pegula, Paolini, and Zheng Qinwen occupy fifth through seventh places respectively!

Written by / Sports Novel