Elena Rybakina finds herself in a very good position to fend off Aryna Sabalenka and finish the 2026 season as the year-end world No 1.

Rybakina became the world No 1 at the Cincinnati Open and she followed it up by winning the second Grand Slam title of her season at the US Open.

She currently sits at the top of the pile with 9501 points, while Aryna Sabalenka currently sits at world No 2 with 7550 ranking points.

While there is an outside chance that Sabalenka can catch Rybakina, she will need to hope that her rival goes out in the first round of the Pan Pacific Open.

Rybakina has received a bye into the second round of the Japanese tournament and she will await the winner of Yulia Putinseva or Maria Sakkari.

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Even if Rybakina crashes out in the first round of the WTA 500 tournament, Sabalenka will have to have a perfect end to her season in order to become world No 1.

That will mean Sabalenka will have to win all five of her matches at the WTA Finals to lift the trophy.

The first stage of the WTA Finals is a round robin group stage, so you do not normally have to win all of your early matches in order to win the title.

That is what Sabalenka will have to do, but judging on Rybakina’s recent form, it will not get that far and she will enjoy another deep run at the Pan Pacific Open.

Finishing as the world No 1 is exactly what Rybakina deserves for being the best player on the WTA Tour when it really counts. Claiming two Grand Slams in a year where the likes of Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, and Sabalenka did not win a single one is very impressive.

As well as her two Grand Slam titles, Rybakina also claimed two WTA titles in Ningbo and Stuttgart and reached a further two finals at Indian Wells and the Canadian Open.

It was perhaps at Masters level where Rybakina had most room for improvement, as she suffered early exits in Dubai, Madrid, and Beijing, but she still managed five Masters events where she reached the last eight of further.

Following her stint at the Pan Pacific Open, Rybakina will then turn her attention towards defending her WTA Finals title from last season.

Prior to 2025, Rybakina had not qualified from the group stages at the WTA Finals, but she beat the likes of Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula, and Swiatek to win the tournament for the first time in her career.