Grand Slam US Open WTA
Rybakina warns Raducanu will offer sterner test as US Open showdown looms
Rybakina expects a sterner test from Raducanu in their US Open third-round meeting in New York. Now.
Elena Rybakina expects a much tighter contest when she meets Emma Raducanu for a place in the US Open fourth round after both progressed with second-round wins in New York.
Rybakina defeated 18-year-old qualifier Tereza Valentová 6-3, 7-6 (9-7), while Raducanu dismissed Janice Tjen 6-2, 6-1. The match in Flushing Meadows will be their second career meeting; Rybakina won their first encounter 6-0, 6-1 at the 2022 Sydney Classic in 55 minutes.
Reflecting on that earlier meeting and Raducanu’s recent form, the 2022 Wimbledon champion said, “We played once a long time ago and I think now she’s playing really well and she’s a tough opponent. Definitely, she knows this place better than anyone else. And I’m looking forward for this match.”
Rybakina added a note of caution about her own level: “I know that I need to improve a little bit from today and try to do my best and hopefully I’ll win that match.”
The pair have become more familiar off court as well, having teamed up in the women’s doubles at the Mubadala Citi DC Open and reached the semi-final. Rybakina explained how the partnership began: “We both don’t play so much doubles, but sometimes on these tournaments, especially beginning of the swing, like it’s, it’s nice to play. She just asked me if I want to play and this is how basically we, we started to play.”
She recalled an earlier attempt to pair up: “And before that we also tried, I think once in Cincinnati, but it didn’t happen. So I was pretty happy to play with her and it was a lot of fun.”
On why Raducanu withdrew on that occasion and how Rybakina approaches doubles, she said: “I think that time in the end she said, I think that she was feeling like some kind of not injury, but maybe not 100%, so decided not, not to push and for me, as I said on most of these tournaments, I try to focus on singles and doubles is something like a practice just to have some fun. So for me it was okay.
“And this time I think we played pretty well. First match was a bit uncomfortable since we never played before, but after that I think we played really well.”
On their off-court relationship she said, “Rarely. But yeah, I think she’s a nice girl. And of course, we are all busy with our schedule and our teams, so of course we don’t spend much time together. But she’s really nice girl outside of the court.”
Rybakina, who enjoyed steady success after Wimbledon — reaching the 2023 Australian Open final, winning another six tournaments and rising to No 3 — acknowledged Raducanu’s progress: “I think now is better for her definitely, than maybe it was a year or two ago. Of course, it’s not easy, there is a lot of expectation from outside, from herself probably. But I’m sure that with time passing, you learn,” the 26-year-old said. “I think that she enjoys now and you can see she’s happy, she’s playing well. So I think now she’s like more free. And I would say a lot of people expect, of course, but the most important is that you know what you’re doing, you know how you practice. And I think it all depends on your, on your state of mind.”
ATP French Open Grand Slam
Auger-Aliassime Reaches Career-High No. 4 After Breakthrough at Roland Garros
Auger-Aliassime rises to No. 4 after best Roland Garros run, tying second-highest Canadian rank. Now
Felix Auger-Aliassime moved to a career-high No. 4 in the ATP rankings following his deepest run at Roland Garros, where the 25-year-old reached the quarterfinals for the first time before losing to eventual finalist Flavio Cobolli. The result completed a personal Grand Slam milestone: having previously reached the quarterfinals or better at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, he became the first Canadian man to reach the quarterfinals or better at all four majors in his career.
The rise from No. 6 to No. 4 surpasses his prior best of No. 5 and places him tied for the second-highest-ranked Canadian in ATP or WTA rankings history. The only other Canadians to reach the top four are Milos Raonic and Bianca Andreescu. Raonic went as high as No. 3 in 2016, following his run to the Wimbledon final that year, and Andreescu peaked at No. 4 in 2019 after winning the US Open.
Canadian tennis has seen seven players reach the top 10 in either ATP or WTA history, with official rankings available since 1973 for the ATP and 1975 for the WTA.
Auger-Aliassime still has ground to cover to move higher in the standings. He is 2,865 points behind the current world No. 3, Alexander Zverev, with the rankings showing Zverev at 7,305 points and Auger-Aliassime at 4,440.
The Canadian will shift his focus to grass. He begins his grass-court season this week at the ATP 250 event in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, entering as the No. 1 seed. After a first-round bye he will open against either Hubert Hurkacz or Marton Fucsovics.
The new ranking reflects a season of important progress for Auger-Aliassime and cements his place among the highest-ranked Canadians in modern tennis history.
ATP French Open Grand Slam
Flavio Cobolli’s Roland Garros run vaults him into ATP Top 10
Flavio Cobolli entered the ATP Top 10 after his first Grand Slam final at Roland Garros. New ranking
Flavio Cobolli’s breakthrough at Roland Garros produced a major ranking milestone. The 24-year-old reached his first Grand Slam semifinal and final in Paris and, despite losing the title match to Alexander Zverev in a five-set battle, climbed from No. 14 to No. 10 in the latest ATP rankings, marking his Top 10 debut.
Cobolli is the seventh Italian to enter the ATP Top 10 since the rankings began in 1973. He is also only the second Italian man in the past 50 years to contest the Roland Garros final, joining last year’s runner-up, Jannik Sinner. Born in 2002, Cobolli is the fifth man born in 2002 or later to reach the Top 10, following Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune, who were both born in 2003, and Lorenzo Musetti and Ben Shelton, who were both born in 2002.
The route to the final carried complicated circumstances. Cobolli advanced to the title match after countryman Matteo Arnaldi withdrew before their semifinal due to illness. Cobolli reflected on the day with mixed emotions: “When [Arnaldi] came to me almost one hour ago, I almost cried,” he said. “It’s something that you don’t expect at all. I was ready to play this match. When he came, I was completely sad for him.
“But at the same time, of course I’m really happy for the result that I reached this week. My dad also came to me right before him, and we had a big hug together with the whole team for achieving the Top 10. Every time that I make the best ranking, we all together have a big hug. We did the same routine as always.
“Yeah, now I’m sad and happy at the same time.”
Arnaldi, 25, leaps from No. 104 to No. 34 after reaching his first Grand Slam semifinal, moving to within four spots of his 2024 career-high of No. 30. Matteo Berrettini also recorded a significant rise, moving from No. 105 to No. 48 after reaching his first Grand Slam quarterfinal since 2022 on the terre battue. For the former No. 6, it was his first appearance at Roland Garros since 2021, following four years marked by injury and illness withdrawals.
French Open Grand Slam
Maja Chwalinska vaults to No. 21 after surprise run to Roland Garros final
Maja Chwalinska rises from No. 114 to No. 21 after reaching the Roland Garros final. into the Top 25
The new WTA rankings produced a major leap for Maja Chwalinska, who climbs from No. 114 to No. 21 after reaching the first Grand Slam final of her career at Roland Garros. The 24-year-old from Poland achieved a sequence of breakthroughs during the clay-court major.
Her run was historically improbable. Chwalinska became the lowest-ranked woman to reach the Roland Garros final in the WTA rankings era, which dates to 1975. She was also only the second player in the Open Era, woman or man, to advance to a Grand Slam final as a qualifier, following Emma Raducanu.
Before the tournament she had never beaten a Top 50 opponent. At Roland Garros she defeated four Top 50 players en route to the title match: Elise Mertens, Maria Sakkari, Anna Kalinskaya and Diana Shnaider. The result smashed her previous career-high of No. 113 and delivered several milestone debuts — Top 100, Top 50, Top 40 and Top 30 — with her ranking finishing just shy of the Top 20.
Asked after the final about the gap in level between the elite and those outside the Top 100, she said: “I know many, many great players that are ranked outside Top 100,” she said. “You know, it’s such a thin line now. I feel like a lot of things need to click, but yeah, for sure there so many great players. Yeah, I wish them all the best. I hope that my story these last days was inspiring for them, and I’ll see them in the—let’s say—Top 50 now.”
With few ranking points to defend until September, there is scope for further gains through the summer. Chwalinska plans a break before returning for the grass season. “I’m not going to play anything before grass, that’s before Wimbledon, that’s for sure. I definitely need some time to recharge,” she said. “Even before Roland Garros, I said that I need vacation after the tournament. So now it’s three weeks that I’m kind of like—not waiting, because I wanted to be here, but I just knew in the back of my head that I’m going for the vacation after French Open.
“Yeah, definitely need some time to recharge.”
The French Open champion, Mirra Andreeva, moves from No. 8 to No. 6, her best ranking this season and one spot shy of the career-high No. 5 she reached last year.
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