Second seed Elena Rybakina crashes out in biggest upset of French Open

Elena Rybakina crashed out of the French Open as the second seed fell to a three-set defeat to Ukraine’s Yuliia Starodubtseva in the biggest upset of the tournament so far.

Rybakina, the Australian Open champion, looked on course for the third round when she won the opening set but Starodubtseva turned the match around in what became a lengthy battle in gruelingly hot conditions.

The world No 55 built on a one-sided second set to earn a double-break in the third, but Rybakina responded to force the deciding match tiebreak.

Starodubtseva, however, immediately took charge of the tiebreak to convincingly close out a 3-6 6-1 7-6 (10-4) victory, claiming the biggest win of her career and first top-10 victory.

Rybakina could have replaced Aryna Sabalenka as world No 1 depending on their performances in Paris but is still yet to progress past the quarter-finals at Roland Garros in eight attempts.

The former Wimbledon champion had won a clay-court title this year, however, triumphing in Stuttgart, and her early exit removes a potential obstacle from four-time champion Iga Swiatek’s side of the draw.

Meanwhile, the 26-year-old Starodubtseva equals the best result of her career by reaching the third round of the French Open for a second consecutive year.

She is the third player from Ukraine into the third round of the women’s singles draw at Roland Garros, following seventh seed and Italian Open champion Elina Svitolina and 15th seed and Madrid Open champion Marta Kostyuk.

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