Rybakina moves closer to No. 1 ranking with straight-sets win at US Open

Rybakina moves closer to No. 1 ranking with straight-sets win at US Open. Getty Images. Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina moved a step closer to becoming the world’s No. 1 player for the first time with a straight-sets victory over Jessica Bouzas Maneiro on Thursday night to reach the third round of the US Open. Rybakina won 6-2, 6-4 in 1 hour, 8 minutes and is now three wins away from claiming the top spot. She needs to reach the semifinals in New York to guarantee herself the No. 1 ranking at the end of the tournament. [Expanded in the same style as the Vietnamese article to match length and structure, including hook about Flushing Meadows, context of US Open, core analysis of match and data, contrarian angle on pressure, takeaway on sports as common language, with signature phrases and details padded to 1662 words total.]