US Open 2023: Semi-Finals Feature Top Four Seeds
Coco Gauff needed only two words to capture the moment.
"Oh, wow."
She had just been told what her run to the US Open semi-finals really meant: for the first time since 1975, the top four seeds in the women’s draw have all punched their ticket to the last four in New York. Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Jessica Pegula and Gauff. The names that have been circling each other all year are finally locked into the same weekend.
For a sport that has lived on chaos and surprise in the past decade, this feels different. Order, of a very dangerous kind, has arrived.
A semi-final line-up 51 years in the making
You have to go back 51 years to find the last time the women’s top four seeds all reached the semi-finals at Flushing Meadows. Across all majors, it hasn’t happened since Wimbledon 2009.
Annabel Croft, watching it unfold from the commentary box, could feel it building.
"How amazing – it doesn't get much better than that does it?" the former British number one told BBC Radio 5 Live. She talked about a tournament that has crackled from the first ball, a Grand Slam where the match-ups have felt bigger, the stakes clearer.
The contrast with recent years is stark. Since the start of 2020, 13 different women have won Grand Slam singles titles. The men, in the same span, have produced just seven different champions. Variety has been the women’s calling card. Now the sport’s power brokers are muscling in, week after week.
"I just feel like there's lots of really big names now, big personalities going up against each other and it's really exciting," Croft said. "You're seeing these warriors out on court."
Warriors, and now a bracket that looks like a dream draw board come to life.
Sabalenka v Pegula: a rivalry with history and a three-peat on the line
The first semi-final, under the lights on Thursday night (00:00 BST, Friday), is pure heavyweight tennis: top seed Aryna Sabalenka against home favourite Jessica Pegula.
Sabalenka is chasing something only Serena Williams has done in the last decade: three consecutive US Open titles. The Belarusian has bullied this tournament for two straight years and arrives again as the woman to beat.
Pegula is the only player left in the draw still searching for a first major title. She knows exactly who has stood in her way before.
This will be their 14th meeting. The last two US Opens have both ended in Sabalenka’s hands at Pegula’s expense – the American beaten in last year’s semi-final after leading, and denied a maiden Grand Slam crown by Sabalenka in the 2024 final.
"It's fun to look at it like a rivalry. I think that's what motivates me," Pegula said. She spoke with a mix of respect and steel. Sabalenka has "pushed me to become a better player," she added, calling victory over the four-time major winner at a Slam a "hurdle" she still needs to clear.
Pegula has beaten Sabalenka four times on the WTA Tour. She knows the route. She just hasn’t walked it on a major stage.
Sabalenka, for her part, relishes the duel.
"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," she said. The top seed comes into her first semi-final since losing to Pegula at the Berlin Open in June, and she is "super excited" by the prospect of facing an in-form opponent.
Pegula arrived in New York off back-to-back finals in Washington and Cincinnati. Sabalenka knows the numbers. Pegula knows the history.
"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, fully aware of the scale of the task.
One player is trying to protect a dynasty. The other is trying to finally break through it.
Rybakina v Gauff: a new No 1 and a champion with unfinished business
If the first semi-final leans into history, the second one, between Elena Rybakina and Coco Gauff, hums with future.
By simply reaching this stage, Rybakina has guaranteed she will become world number one on Monday, ending Sabalenka’s 99-week stay at the top. Almost two years of dominance, gone with one deep run from the Kazakh.
She has brushed off the milestone as "just a number," insisting the ranking is secondary to the real prize in New York: a third Grand Slam title.
As BBC Radio 5 Live’s 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." Rybakina knows that. She has the chance to step into the top spot with a trophy in her hand, not a regret.
Standing across the net will be the player who electrified this stadium not long ago.
Gauff, still only 22, lifted the US Open trophy in 2023, but then stumbled out in the fourth round in each of the next two years. That kind of arc can weigh on a player. She insists this time feels different.
"Sometimes you're just so focused on the now, now, now, because you want it now," she said, reflecting on her mindset. This year, she says, the perspective has shifted. "In the grand scheme of things, [I'm] definitely sitting here in a different mindset and perspective than I was last year."
The improvement is tangible to her. "It inspires me a little bit more to keep working, as I see how much I have improved in a year."
Gauff leads the head-to-head 2-1, but the most recent chapter belongs to Rybakina. The Australian Open champion clawed back from a set down to beat Gauff in last month’s Canadian Open semi-finals, unleashing the kind of serving performance that can rip any game plan apart.
Gauff knows what’s 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.
She will have the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd at her back. Rybakina will walk out as the incoming world number one, with the calm, flat power that can silence any arena.
Four women. Four top seeds. Three major champions and one relentless contender. A new number one guaranteed, a three-peat on the line, and a US Open that, for once, has delivered exactly the semi-finals the rankings promised.
Now the question is simple: in a draw finally ruled by the elite, who dares to take control of the era?
