World No. 2 Rybakina knocked out of the French Open

Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina was eliminated in the second round of the French Open on Wednesday by unseeded Ukrainian Yuliia Starodubtseva.

The Kazakh world No. 2 lost a one‑set lead in a dramatic finish, falling 3‑6, 6‑1, 7‑6 (10‑4).

“Honestly, hard to describe, I’m super happy,” Starodubtseva said after defeating a top‑10 player for the first time in her career. “I’m super proud of myself that I was able to do this today. It was a tricky third set but I got it done in the end.”

This result marks Rybakina’s earliest exit from any WTA event since the 2025 Miami Open and her first loss in the opening two rounds of a Grand Slam since the 2024 Australian Open.

Starodubtseva will next play either 26th seed Hailey Baptiste or Wang Xiyu for a place in the round of 16.

She has already matched her best Grand Slam performance, when she reached the third round as a lucky loser at the French Open a year ago, losing to Jasmine Paolini.

Rybakina began the match strongly on the hot Court Suzanne Lenglen, taking a 5‑1 lead before closing out the first set. However, Starodubtseva surged, winning the first five games of the second set to take it.

In the deciding set, Rybakina fell behind after losing the first three games, but fought back to level the score at 3‑2 and then 4‑4 after a break at the two‑hour mark.

Starodubtseva steadied herself, holding serve in the 12th game to force a break. The tiebreak began with a Rybakina double fault, and Starodubtseva quickly pulled ahead 6‑2.

She secured the match on her second match point when Rybakina’s forehand went wide.

“You can’t be thinking it will be easy, even at 3‑0 in the third set, I was thinking this might still not be easy,” Starodubtseva reflected.

AFP

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