Elena Rybakina exits French Open as Yuliia Starodubtseva earns best career win

PARIS — Elena Rybakina, the world No. 2 and one of the favorites for the French Open women’s title, lost her second-round match on a blistering Tuesday afternoon at Roland Garros.

Yuliia Starodubtseva, a 26-year-old from Ukraine who attended Old Dominion University in Virginia, registered the biggest win of her career.

Starodubtseva, the world No. 55, took advantage of a string of errors from Rybakina’s forehand and the Russian-born Kazakh’s lingering discomfort on outdoor clay to come back from a set down to beat Rybakina 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(3).

Rybakina staged a comeback midway through the third set, knotting the score at 4-4 from 3-0 down. But the errors took over again down the stretch, as Starodubtseva held her serve twice with her back against the wall and played a smart and steady tiebreak to cross the finish line, as Rybakina again struggled to keep the ball on the court.

Starodubtseva, who had lost some of the conviction on her shots from 3-0 up, found it again in the most crucial moments, hitting winners and pinning Rybakina back during the 10-point tiebreak in ways that she could not find from 3-0 to 6-6.

Rybakina’s loss put an exclamation point on a massive afternoon for Iga Świątek’s chances of winning a fifth French Open title in seven years.

Świątek, the No. 3 seed, kicked off the day on Court Philppe Chatrier, with a solid 6-2, 6-3 win over Sara Bejlek of the Czech Republic to make the final 32. At that point, Świątek still faced at least two major potential obstacles between her and the final.

First there was a potential third-round duel against Jelena Ostapenko. Świątek is 0-6 against Ostapenko. Rybakina also loomed as a possible semifinal foe.

About 90 minutes after Świątek left the court, Ostapenko lost to Magda Linnette, 2-6, 6-2, 2-6. Soon after that, Rybakina, who won the opening set with ease, began to fall apart.

“I’m just proud of myself,” Starodubtseva said during her on-court interview. “It was a hard third set.”

Starodubtseva’s win also wrapped a banner day for Ukraine. Marta Kostyuk and Elina Svitolina, who won the last two tournaments before the French Open, also advanced.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

Tennis, Women’s Tennis

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