The four players left in the women's draw at the US Open are the top four seeds. Aryna Sabalenka plays Jessica Pegula at 7pm ET (midnight BST) tonight, and Elena Rybakina meets Coco Gauff straight afterwards.

That has happened at the US Open once before in the Open Era, in 1975, and at no major since Wimbledon in 2009. The ranking is already settled: Rybakina becomes world No. 1 on Monday, the first player from Kazakhstan to get there, ending Sabalenka's 99-week run at the top.

Sabalenka has the New York record, Pegula the recent wins

This is their 14th meeting and their third at the US Open in three years. Sabalenka leads 9-4 and won both previous meetings here, the 2024 final in straight sets and last year's semi-final from a set down.

Lately it has been closer. Their last four matches all went to a third set, with two wins each, and Pegula won the Berlin semi-final earlier this year with a 6-0 deciding set. Sabalenka won their most recent hard-court meeting, at the 2025 WTA Finals.

Sabalenka has won 18 straight matches in New York and is in her sixth consecutive semi-final here. Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova led her 4-2 in the third set on Tuesday before Sabalenka finished it with a second-serve ace, her first three-set win at a major this year. "I honestly thought that was it, that match was over," she said on court.

Pegula is into a third straight US Open semi-final after reaching finals in Washington and Cincinnati. She came from a set down against Emma Navarro while winning only 41% of her second-serve points, and no player on tour has more comeback wins (48) since the start of the decade. What has worked for her against Sabalenka, she said after beating Navarro, is "changing the direction of the ball, not getting too predictable."

Rybakina brings the serve, Gauff an 11-match run

Rybakina and Gauff have met twice, with one win each, most recently in the Toronto semi-final this summer, which Rybakina won 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.

Rybakina retired during her Cincinnati quarter-final and admitted she was not sure she would play here, then did not drop a set until the quarter-finals. She leads the tour in aces with more than 350 this season, and only Pegula has won more matches in 2026. Against Zheng Qinwen she saved a break point at 3-4 in the third set and won the last three games to reach her first US Open semi-final.

Gauff has won 11 straight matches, including the Cincinnati final against Pegula. Against Mirra Andreeva she lost the first set and saved two match points in the second-set tiebreak before winning 2-6, 7-6(7), 6-2, her 12th comeback win of the season and level with Pegula for the most on tour. "I can control the belief in myself," she said afterwards.

Each of them is playing for something different

Sabalenka can become the first woman since Serena Williams, champion from 2012 to 2014, to win three US Open titles in a row, and it would be her fifth major. Pegula, runner-up here in 2024, is still looking for a first major title. Her 70.3% career win rate at the Slams is the best among active players with at least 10 matches who have not won one.

Rybakina is chasing a first US Open final and a third major, after Wimbledon in 2022 and the Australian Open in January. Gauff, the 2023 champion, is back in the semi-finals here for the first time since that title and can win it again.

The final is on Saturday 12 September at 4pm ET (9pm BST).

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