Unseeded Yulia Starodubtseva defeated second seed Elena Rybakina 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (10-4) in the second round at Roland Garros on Thursday.
This is the first time since 2020 that Rybakina, who won the Australian Open earlier this year, did not advance to the third round at Roland Garros, losing in straight sets to Jasmine Paolini last year as a lucky loser.
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This would be the earliest loss by a second-seeded player at Roland Garros since Barbora Krejcikova was eliminated in the first round in 2022 and failed to defend her title.
Rybakin fell behind due to many mistakes and ultimately lost. She made 71 unforced errors in that game.
Starodubtseva will face either No. 26 seed Haley Baptiste or qualifier Shi Wang of China.
