By Noah Zimmerman
noah@queensledger.com
FLUSHING – The final Grand Slam event of 2026 is in the books, with champions crowned over the weekend at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
On Saturday, women’s #2 ranked Elena Rybakina took down the top-ranked and back-to-back defending champion Aryna Sabalenka. Then on Sunday, #1 Alexander Zverev defeated #5 Ben Shelton to win the men’s singles tournament.
Shelton and Tiafoe duel
It was an electric duel between #8 Ben Shelton and #11 Francis Tiafoe, as the two top-ranked American men battled in the semifinals last Friday night. Shelton earned a spot in the semis with a wild win over #2 Carlos Alcaraz that lasted well past 3:00 in the morning. Tiafoe came from two sets down to defeat fellow American Alex Michelsen. Both games ended with long-lasting fifth set tiebreakers.
Shelton lost the first set to Tiafoe 6-4 but roared back, winning the next three 6-3, 6-3, 7-5. The 23-year-old was feeling it in the semifinal showdown, reaching a wild 149mph serve speed and picking up 20 aces.
Pegula and Gauff out in semis
The two top-5 American women both fell in the semifinals, with #3 Jessica Pegula falling in two sets to Sabalenka and #4 Coco Gauff bested in three by Rybakina.
Gauff was able to win the first set against the two-time reigning champ, but Rybakina took control with 6-4 wins in the next two. Pegula fought hard in the first game, narrowly falling 5-7. Sabalenka didn’t give her a path back into the match, winning 6-2 to head to the US Open women’s final yet again.
Rybakina bests Sabalenka
It was Aryna Sabalenka’s fourth consecutive trip to the US Open final, looking to become the third woman to win three consecutive titles in Queens (Chris Evert in 1975, 1976, 1977, & 1978, and Serena Williams in 2012, 2013, & 2014). Her dream ended in a 6-2 final set as Elena Rybakina was crowned champion.
The Kazakh won the opening set 6-4 and came close to winning the second to sweep the final. Sabalenka was able to prevent the set from going to a tiebreaker and winning 7-5. Sabalenka won the first game of the third set, but Rybakina won the next three. She went into the eighth game serving for the US Open championship, winning it on an ace.
Zverev seizes opportunity
With Alcaraz returning from injury and crashing out in the quarterfinals and the world’s best men’s player Jannick Sinner missing the US Open with an injury, Alexander Zverev jumped at the opportunity to win a second Grand Slam title of 2026. The German was the #1 seed at the US Open after winning the French Open and falling to Sinner in the Wimbledon final earlier this year.
In his four career finals losses, two came against Sinner and one against Alcaraz. Without them in his way, Zverev was the clear favorite to fend off Ben Shelton and earn another Grand Slam title. The match lasted four sets, with Zverev winning the first two (the second in a tiebreaker) and coming back from a 5-7 third set loss to win the fourth 6-2. He didn’t even realize he’d won the final game as the Queens crowd burst into applause.
