Elena Rybakina beats Coco Gauff, will play Aryna Sabalenka for the U.S. Open women's title

Aryna Sabalenka realized she was probably going to lose the No. 1 ranking to Elena Rybakina. There wasn't much she could do about that.

The U.S. Open trophy is a different story.

Rybakina can only take that away from Sabalenka by winning it on the court Saturday, and the two-time defending champion showed in an overpowering display in the semifinals how serious she is about a three-peat — which would be the first at Flushing Meadows since Serena Williams from 2012-14.

"I wanted badly to go to the finals, and of course I want to go all the way," Sabalenka said.

Rybakina set up a matchup between the top two players in women's tennis by rallying past Coco Gauff 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Sabalenka beat Jessica Pegula 7-5, 6-2 in the first semifinal, running away with the second set after they played largely even in the first.

Sabalenka is currently No. 1 and Rybakina No. 2 in the WTA rankings, but that changes Monday after Sabalenka held the top spot for 99 consecutive weeks.

Rybakina won the Australian Open to start the season, beating Sabalenka, then kept on closing after the four-time Grand Slam champion had a poor summer by her standards.

Rybakina needed only to reach the semifinals in New York to clinch the No. 1 ranking.

"It's a lot of work, and yeah, that was one of my goals, but right now not much I could do. I didn't really perform well in the middle of the season," Sabalenka said. "Elena took it over and played really well, and she took away No. 1 position."

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The second semifinal was more a battle, with Gauff trying to fight from behind in the final two sets, but Rybakina not letting her come all the way back.

Gauff jumped on Rybakina with a