Elena Rybakina defeated two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in the final, 6–4, 5–7, 6–2 to win the women's singles tennis title at the 2026 US Open. It was her third major title (and second of the season, having also won the Australian Open) and 14th WTA Tour title overall. Rybakina was the sixth women's singles player (since 1988) to win both hardcourt majors in the same year, with Sabalenka and Rybakina also being the first pair of women's singles players to contest both hardcourt major finals in the same year since Steffi Graf and Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in 1994. This was also the first US Open final contested by the top two seeds since 2013.

Rybakina attained the world No. 1 singles ranking for the first time by reaching the semifinals, becoming the 30th player to attain the top ranking and the first Kazakhstani player to achieve a world No. 1 ranking in any discipline. Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula, and Coco Gauff were also in contention for the top ranking at the beginning of the tournament.

Aged 46, Venus Williams was the oldest woman to compete in the US Open singles main draw since Renée Richards in 1981, after receiving a wildcard into the main draw. Starting at 12:13 AM, the first-round match between Williams and Sofia Kenin set the record for the latest start in tournament history, surpassing the previous record (12:08 AM) set by the third-round match between Sabalenka and Ekaterina Alexandrova in 2024. Zheng Qinwen was the first qualifier to reach the quarterfinals since Emma Raducanu in 2021.

All of the top four seeds reached the semifinals for the first time at the US Open since 1975 and at any major since the 2009 Wimbledon Championships. It was also the first time at the US Open since 1998 that the top six seeds reached the quarterfinals. 26 out of the 32 seeds reached the third round, the joint-highest number of seeds at a major since the introduction of the 32-seed system in 2001, equaling the 2007 French Open.

Seeds

Draw

Finals

Top half

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Section 4

Bottom half

Section 5

Section 6

Section 7

Section 8

Seeded players The following are the seeded players. Seedings are based on WTA rankings as of August 24, 2026. Rankings and points before are as of August 31, 2026.

Because the tournament takes place one week later this year, players are defending points from the 2025 US Open, as well as tournaments that took place during the week of September 8, 2025 (Guadalajara and Ljubljana WTA 125). Points from the 2025 US Open are listed first in the "Points defending" column.

SeedRankPlayerPoints beforePoints defending Points wonPoints afterStatus 1 1 Aryna Sabalenka† 8,575 2,000 1,300 7,875 Runner-up, lost to Elena Rybakina 2 2 Elena Rybakina‡ 8,141 240 2,000 9,901 Champion, defeated Aryna Sabalenka 3 3 Jessica Pegula 7,265 780 780 7,265 Semifinals lost to Aryna Sabalenka 4 4 Coco Gauff 6,704 240 780 7,244 Semifinals lost to Elena Rybakina 5 5 Mirra Andreeva 5,443 130 430 5,743 Quarterfinals lost to Coco Gauff 6 6 Linda Nosková 5,028 130 430 5,328 Quarterfinals lost to Aryna Sabalenka 7 7 Karolína Muchová 4,983 430 130 4,683 Third round lost to Emma Navarro 8 8 Iga Świątek 4,809 430 240 4,619 Fourth round lost to Zheng Qinwen [Q] 9 9 Elina Svitolina 4,689 10 130 4,809 Third round lost to Anna Kalinskaya 10 10 Amanda Anisimova 4,533 1,300 130 3,363 11 11 Marta Kostyuk 3,980 240 240 3,980 Fourth round lost to Linda Nosková 12 12 Belinda Bencic 2,995 70 10 2,935 First round lost to Yulia Putintseva 13 13 Naomi Osaka 2,846 780 240 2,306 Fourth round lost to Elena Rybakina 14 14 Iva Jovic 2,671 70+500 240+49 2,390 Fourth round lost to Coco Gauff 15 16 Diana Shnaider 2.468 10 130 2,588 Third round lost to Taylor Townsend 16 17 Sorana Cîrstea 2,294 70 240 2,464 Fourth round lost to Jessica Pegula 17 18 Alexandra Eala 2,281 70+125 130+60 2,276 Third round lost to Iva Jovic 18 19 2,186 240 130 2,076 Third round lost to Marta Kostyuk 19 21 Jasmine Paolini 2,123 130 130 2,123 20 22 Maja Chwalińska 2,037 20+125+27 10+12+1 1,888 First round lost to Taylor Townsend 21 23 Anna Kalinskaya 1,933 130 240 2,043 Fourth round lost to Emma Navarro 22 24 Madison Keys 1,909 10 130 2,029 Third round lost to Zheng Qinwen [Q] 23 20 Elise Mertens 2,165 130 130 2,165 Third round lost to Naomi Osaka 24 25 Anastasia Potapova 1,756 70 240 1,926 Fourth round lost to Mirra Andreeva 25 26 Marie Bouzková 1,753 10 130 1,873 Third round lost to Iga Świątek 26 27 Emma Navarro 1,724 130 430 2,024 Quarterfinals lost to Jessica Pegula 27 29 Barbora Krejčíková 1,666 430 10 1,246 First round lost to Kamilla Rakhimova 28 30 Sára Bejlek 1,652 (30)∆ 10 1,632 First round lost to Cristina Bucșa 29 28 Ann Li 1,683 240 130 1,573 Third round lost to Linda Nosková 30 32 Jeļena Ostapenko 1,512 70 10 1,452 First round lost to Tatjana Maria 31 33 Leylah Fernandez 1,454 130 130 1,454 Third round lost to Jessica Pegula 32 35 Maria Sakkari 1,415 130 70 1,355 ∆ The player did not qualify for the tournament in 2025. Points for her 18th best result will be deducted instead.

Withdrawn players The following players would have been seeded, but did not enter or withdrew before the tournament began. RankPlayerPoints before Points defendingPoints after Withdrawal reason 15 Victoria Mboko 2,531 10 2,521 Left knee injury

Other entry information Wildcards

Protected ranking

Qualifiers

Lucky loser Darja Semeņistaja

Withdrawals The entry list was released based on the WTA rankings for the week of July 20, 2026.

† – not included on entry list ‡ – withdrew from entry list § – withdrew from main draw

Source:

References

External links Entry list (archived) Draw (archived)