Defending champ Sabalenka confident cruising to Round 4 at 2026 US Open

Defending champ Sabalenka confident cruising to Round 4 at 2026 US Open The tournament’s two-time reigning champion is now set to play in the next round against the winner of the match between Russia’s Diana Shnaider and US player Taylor TownsendNEW YORK, September 4. /TASS/. World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka has roamed into Round 4 of the 2026 US Open tournament after defeating Kamilla Rakhimova of Uzbekistan. Top-seed Sabalenka, who is playing under a neutral status at the tournament, stormed past her Round 3 unseeded opponent from Uzbekistan with a 6-3; 6-4 win. The tournament’s two-time reigning champion is now set to play in the next round against the winner of the duel between Russia’s Diana Shnaider (19th-seed) and US player Taylor Townsend (unseeded). Sabalenka, 28, has sat atop the WTA (the Women's Tennis Association) Rankings since October 2024 as she boasts 24 career WTA titles. Four of those are majors - two US Opens (2024, 2025) and two Australian Opens (2023 and 2024). She is also the winner in the women’s doubles category at the 2019 US Open and the 2021 Australian Open. The 2026 US Open is played on outdoor hard courts at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York between August 30 and September 13. The tournament will award a record $108 million in prize money. Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus and Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz are the tournament’s reigning champions in women’s and men’s singles respectively. Players from Russia and Belarus are participating in international tournaments under a neutral status and the 2026 US Open is no exception. Russian, Belarus players’ neutral status at tennis tournaments On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments, citing Moscow's special military operation in Ukraine as the reason. Following the IOC's recommendations in late February 2022, the majority of global sports federations moved to exclude athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) ruled on March 1, 2022, to suspend the membership of the Russian and Belarusian national tennis federations while also canceling all previously scheduled tennis tournaments in the two countries. On March 14, 2022, the ITF also confirmed its prohibition on the Russian and Belarusian national tennis teams from participating in the 2022 Davis Cup and the 2022 Billie Jean King Cup. 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