World No. 2 Elena Rybakina suffered an upset loss to Ukrainian Yuliia Starodubtseva in the second round of the French Open (No. 55), 6-3, 1-6, 6-7 (4-10).
The players had never faced each other before. Rybakina broke early to for a 2-0 lead and secured another break for 5-1. After that, the Kazakhstani player made several unforced errors, allowing Starodubtseva to win two consecutive games and break back. Serving for the set again at 5-3, Rybakina fell behind 15-40 but managed to take the set 6-3.
In the second set, Rybakina struggled badly. A high number of unforced errors and miscues led to a one-sided set. Starodubtseva won five consecutive games and nearly served Rybakina a bagel, taking the set 6-1. The Ukrainian found her rhythm and consistently capitalized on Rybakina’s mistakes.
In the decisive set, Rybakina recovered from a 0-3 deficit after being broken twice, taking a 5-4 lead. However, in the 10th game of the set, on Starodubtseva’s serve, the Kazakhstani player made two errors into the net and two out, allowing Starodubtseva to hold serve and level the set at 5-5.
In the end, the match was decided in a tiebreak, which the Ukrainian player won 10-4 to secure an upset victory in 2 hours and 30 minutes, 3-6, 6-1, 7-6.
Separately, Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik lost in the first round of Roland Garros and withdrew from the doubles draw, where his opening-round match had been scheduled for today, due to a right shoulder strain.
The French Open is the year’s second Grand Slam tournament. Traditionally, it concludes the spring clay-court season. The 2026 Roland Garros prize pool amounts to a record €61.7 million, up 9.5% from the previous year.
