The fight for the No.1 ranking is heating up in the WTA, with Elena Rybakina making her charge to replace Aryna Sabalenka at the top spot on the WTA Rankings. However, the 2026 Australian Open champion is not letting the proposition of being No.1 cloud her thoughts as she looks to take it one match at a time, prompting her to make a cheeky remark during an interview after her quarterfinal win in Toronto.

“Only when you ask, I have to think about it. No, I’m just staying in present, trying to focus on match at the time and not looking at the ranking, not following,” said Rybakina to Mark Petchey during her Tennis Channel interview. “So for me, it’s just important to go match by match and hopefully win titles.”

Even though she is keeping her mind off it, Rybakina is quite close to Sabalenka in terms of ranking points. With Sabalenka getting knocked out of Toronto in the fourth round, Rybakina has reached quite close to the No.1 ranking.

Notably, Rybakina climbed to a career-high No. 2 after reaching the Indian Wells semifinals in March. Now, a Canadian Open title would take the Kazakh to 8,666 points, just four behind World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka’s 8,670. Yet despite being this close to the top spot, Rybakina isn’t exactly losing sleep over the rankings.

However, even though the gap will be a narrow four points, Rybakina will have semifinal points to defend at Cincinnati, which will make sure she remains close to the Belarusian. The US Open will be the ideal situation for the Kazakh to overtake Aryna Sabalenka, as the Belarusian is the defending champion, and an early exit will cost her most of the 2000 championship points from last year.

Should Rybakina displace Sabalenka, it will end more than 95 weeks of dominance from the Belarusian, who has been the best player on the Tour so far.

Rybakina’s form has been volatile through the season, but the two-time Major champion seems to be getting back in her groove in Toronto.

Elena Rybakina is turning things around in Toronto

Rybakina began her campaign in Toronto with shaky wins against the likes of Daria Kasatkina and Liudmilla Samsonova in the early rounds, with the World No.2’s ever-reliant serve not firing. Going into the clash against Naomi Osaka in the quarterfinals, it looked like the Japanese star was the favorite, given her recent hard-court form.

The serve was Rybakina’s weakness in the Osaka clash once again, as she got broken in the very first service game, which was enough for Osaka to win the first set. The serve seemed to be fragile, as Rybakina was 2-4 down in the second set and on the verge of being knocked out. However, she rallied around, winning the second set in a tiebreak, and saving break points in the third set to win the match.

Rybakina was one of the most consistent players on the Tour last year, winning three titles and reaching seven Tour-level semifinals, which helped her reach the WTA Finals. This year, the World No. 2 had a great start, winning the Australian Open and reaching the final at Indian Wells, but she struggled on clay and grass. However, her strong hard-court runs should give her plenty of confidence heading into the US Open, where she is still chasing her first quarterfinal appearance.

Rybakina will now face Coco Gauff in the semifinal of the Canadian Open. The two of them have played only once before, when the American won a three-set thriller at the 2022 Canadian Open.