Aryna Sabalenka celebrated her new status as world No. 1 with a straight-set victory over 13th seed Daria Kasatkina in one hour and 15 minutes on Monday.
The win confirmed her place in the quarterfinals, where she will go up against Qinwen Zheng, who upset Ons Jabeur in round four.
Other women’s quarterfinalists include Coco Gauff, Jelena Ostapenko, Sorana Cirstea, Marketa Vondrousova, and Karolina Muchova. The Belarussian said achieving the status of the best women’s tennis player in the world was a dream come true.
“Reaching the WTA world No. 1 singles ranking is something I have dreamed of ever since I was a little girl when I started playing tennis,” she told Eurosport.
“2023 has been such an incredible year for me and my team, and this is the perfect reward for all our hard work.
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“It’s an unbelievable feeling to join the amazing list of other WTA players to achieve this, and it’s a huge honour to be able to call myself the No. 1 singles player in the world.”
Sabalenka has not lost a set at Flushing Meadows, while only three of the top 10 seeded women’s players are in this quarterfinal matchup, with Ostapenko upset former No. 1 Iga Swiatek and Zheng got the better of Jabeur.
On the men’s side, world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz is still in the draw, chasing a first US Open title, and he is joined by No. 2 Novak Djokovic and four others in the top 10: Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Frances Tiafoe, and Taylor Fritz. The other two quarterfinalists are Alexander Zverev and Ben Shelton.
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