US Open 2023: Women's Semi-Finals Feature Top Four Seeds
Coco Gauff needed just two words.
"Oh, wow."
The reaction was instinctive, almost disbelieving, when she learned the scale of what she had stepped into at this US Open: a women’s semi-final line-up straight out of a different era.
For the first time since 1975, the top four seeds in the women’s draw have all barged their way into the last four in New York. Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Jessica Pegula and Gauff – all pushed to three sets in the quarters, all still standing. In a sport that has thrived on chaos in recent years, order has suddenly taken centre stage.
Former British number one Annabel Croft could barely hide her delight.
"How amazing – it doesn't get much better than that does it?" she told BBC Radio 5 Live, summing up the sense that this US Open has felt different from the start. The anticipation, the storylines, the calibre of the match-ups – it has all felt bigger, sharper, more defined.
Since the start of 2020, the women’s game has produced 13 different Grand Slam singles champions. The men? Just seven. Variety has been the norm, unpredictability almost a selling point. Now, for the first time at any major since Wimbledon 2009, the top four ranked women have muscled their way into the semi-finals. It feels like a statement.
Croft sees something shifting.
"There’s lots of really big names now, big personalities going up against each other and it's really exciting," she said. "We've been blessed with the amount of intriguing matches we've had. You're seeing these warriors out on court."
Warriors, and familiar foes.
Sabalenka vs Pegula: a rivalry with history and a title on the line
The first semi-final on Thursday night (00:00 BST, Friday) is a heavyweight rerun. Top seed and two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka against Jessica Pegula, the American still chasing that elusive first major.
They know each other far too well for this to feel like just another match. This will be their 14th meeting. The last two have cut particularly deep for Pegula, both of them here at Flushing Meadows.
In 2023, Sabalenka came from behind in the semi-finals to halt Pegula’s charge. In 2024, she went one step further, denying the American a first Grand Slam title in the final. Same stage, same court, same opponent. Different stakes, perhaps, but the scars are fresh.
Pegula admits she leans into it.
"It's fun to look at it like a rivalry. I think that's what motivates me," she said. "I know that she's definitely pushed me to become a better player, so I always respect and appreciate that aspect of our rivalry."
On the WTA Tour, Pegula has managed to beat Sabalenka four times. On the biggest stages, though, the Belarusian has been the wall she cannot quite climb. Pegula calls it a "hurdle" she has to overcome. There is no disguising it as anything else.
Sabalenka, for her part, relishes the tension.
She described herself as "super excited" to face Pegula again, fully aware the American arrived in New York with strong form after reaching the finals in Washington and Cincinnati.
"I'm loving playing against her because it's a battle, because it's a fight, and I love being under pressure and going through tough challenges," Sabalenka said. She has not been this deep at a tournament since losing to Pegula in the Berlin Open semi-finals in June. The circle closes again in New York.
Pegula knows the numbers. She knows Sabalenka is chasing history, trying to become the first woman since Serena Williams in 2014 to win three consecutive US Open titles.
"I know that she hasn't maybe had the best results this summer, but I know that she has a lot of confidence playing here at this tournament, and she's going for a three-peat," Pegula said.
For Sabalenka, it is a shot at a dynasty in Queens. For Pegula, it is a chance to finally flip the script on the rivalry that has defined her Grand Slam ceiling.
Rybakina’s rise, Gauff’s perspective and a blockbuster under the lights
If the first semi-final is a grudge match, the second is a collision between the present and the future of the sport – though both women already own Grand Slam titles.
Elena Rybakina, the second seed, will walk onto Arthur Ashe Stadium knowing that whatever happens, she will wake up on Monday as the new world number one. Her run to the last four has ended Aryna Sabalenka’s 99-week reign at the top.
Rybakina has called the ranking "just a number", insisting her eyes are fixed on something more tangible: a third Grand Slam trophy. There is an edge to that stance. Being crowned number one after losing a semi-final or final leaves a hollow note. As BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller put it, "It's never quite the same if you become world number one having lost a Grand Slam final or semi-final just beforehand, so she will be trying to cap off an absolutely perfect couple of weeks by winning the title."
Standing across the net will be Coco Gauff, with an entire stadium at her back.
The 22-year-old American knows exactly what it feels like to own this place. She lifted the US Open trophy in 2023 but then suffered back-to-back fourth-round exits in the two years that followed. That dip has changed her outlook.
"Sometimes you're just so focused on the now, now, now, because you want it now, and obviously you want to take advantage of your opportunities," she said. This time, she insists, the perspective is different.
"In the grand scheme of things, [I'm] definitely sitting here in a different mindset and perspective than I was last year. It inspires me a little bit more to keep working, as I see how much I have improved in a year."
The numbers between them are tight. Gauff leads the head-to-head 2-1, but that lone Rybakina win is doing a lot of talking. It came only last month in the Canadian Open semi-finals, where the Australian Open champion clawed back from a set down to beat the American.
Gauff knows what is coming.
"I'm going to have some aces hit on me and some winners hit on me, but I'm going to keep fighting and give it my all. That's all I can do," she said.
Rybakina’s flat, explosive power against Gauff’s elastic defence and counter-punching, under the lights of Arthur Ashe, with the number one ranking already secured and a major title still on the line. The stakes are clear enough.
For years, the women’s game has been defined by its breadth, its unpredictability, its revolving door of champions. Now, at this US Open, the sport’s elite have shut that door and locked themselves inside the final weekend.
Sabalenka, Rybakina, Pegula, Gauff. Four names, four stories, one rare semi-final line-up.
The stars have finally aligned. Now someone has to tear them apart.
