French Open 2026: Rybakina Out as Starodubtseva Records Career-Best Win

Rybakina suffers shock French Open exit to Starodubtseva

The world No. 2 collapsed after leading 5-1 in the first set, falling in three sets to Ukrainian qualifier Starodubtseva.

Rybakina’s earliest WTA exit since Miami 2025 came after Starodubtseva rallied to win the final-set tiebreak 7-4...

World No. 2 Elena Rybakina was knocked out of the French Open in a surprise second-round defeat on Wednesday, losing to unseeded Ukrainian Yuliia Starodubtseva. The Australian Open champion couldn’t get past her opponent at Roland Garros.

The Kazakh held a one-set advantage but let it slip in dramatic fashion, falling 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(4) to exit the tournament early.

“Honestly, hard to describe, I'm super happy,” said world number 55 Starodubtseva after beating a top-10 opponent 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 marks Elena Rybakina’s earliest exit at any WTA tournament since the 2025 Miami Open, and her first loss in the first two rounds of a Grand Slam since the 2024 Australian Open.

Starodubtseva has now equaled her best Grand Slam result. Twelve months ago she reached the French Open third round as a lucky loser before losing to Jasmine Paolini.

Rybakina came out strong on a hot Court Suzanne Lenglen, racing to a 5-1 lead and taking the first set without trouble.

Her form dropped off quickly after that. Starodubtseva found her rhythm and won five games in a row to claim the second set.

Rybakina looked in trouble at the start of the deciding set, losing the first three games and falling behind by a double break.

She fought back, breaking Starodubtseva and saving two break points to close the gap to 3-2.

  

Rybakina broke again right as the match hit the two-hour mark, leveling the third set at 4-4.

Starodubtseva steadied herself just when it looked like she might fade, holding serve in the 12th game to push the set into a tiebreak.

 

HUGE UPSET! 🚨

Yuliia Starodubtseva stuns No. 2 seed Elena Rybakina in an absolute thriller!#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/GuSWhfL2JM

— wta (@WTA) May 27, 2026

The deciding tiebreak began with a double fault from Rybakina, and Starodubtseva quickly moved ahead 6-2.

She clinched the biggest win of her career on her second match point when Rybakina hit a forehand 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,” said Starodubtseva.