For the first time since 1975, all four top seeds in the women’s draw have reached the US Open semifinals. Thursday night at Arthur Ashe Stadium brings two heavyweight matchups that will decide who plays for the title on Saturday.

Elena Rybakina is your new world No. 1

Before a ball is even struck today, the biggest story of the tournament has already been written. Elena Rybakina’s run to the semifinals has mathematically secured her the WTA world No. 1 ranking for the first time in her career, regardless of how the rest of the tournament unfolds. The Kazakh has now reached at least a semifinal at every Grand Slam this season, capped by her Australian Open title in January, and this milestone caps a remarkable rise from outside the top five just a year ago.

Sabalenka vs Pegula – click for full analysis

Aryna Sabalenka survived her toughest test of the tournament so far, needing three sets and a deciding tiebreak to get past Linda Noskova in the quarterfinals. The two time defending champion is now two wins away from becoming just the third woman in the Open Era to win three straight US Open titles.

Standing in her way is Jessica Pegula, who is looking for a different outcome this time around. Sabalenka has beaten Pegula in New York in back to back years, first in the 2024 final and again in last year’s semifinal. Pegula reached this stage by fighting back from a slow start against fellow American Emma Navarro, and she will need her best serving performance of the tournament to finally get past her rival.

Gauff vs Rybakina – click for full analysis

Coco Gauff needed everything she had to get past Mirra Andreeva in the quarterfinals, saving two match points in a second set tiebreak before closing out the match in a third set decider. It was far from a clean performance, with 40 unforced errors across the first two sets, but Gauff tightened things up when it mattered most.

Now she faces a red hot Rybakina, fresh off clinching the No. 1 ranking and playing with nothing to lose. Rybakina beat Qinwen Zheng in the quarterfinals to end the Chinese qualifier’s fairytale run, and she will be an imposing test for Gauff’s title defense.

Both semifinals are scheduled for the evening session at Arthur Ashe Stadium, starting at 7:00 PM ET.