Rybakina upset – Elena Rybakina was sent out of the French Open in the second round on Wednesday, May 27 after Yuliia Starodubtseva won a dramatic comeback, taking the final set 7-6(3). Starodubtseva’s next match is set for Friday, May 29 against the winner of Hailey Baptiste
Elena Rybakina’s hopes of chasing a first French Open title were snapped in the second round on Wednesday, May 27, when Yuliia Starodubtseva kept finding another gear and eventually finished the job in a tense final set.
The match swung early. Starodubtseva dropped the first set to Rybakina, 3-6, before coming back with back-to-back set wins. Even then, the closing stretch refused to settle. In the final set. Starodubtseva had to recover from being down three games to none. rallying back to force a tiebreak that she won 7-6(3).
For Starodubtseva, the victory was the biggest of her career. While she had reached the third round of the French Open before, she had never defeated an opponent this high-profile. The scale of the moment wasn’t lost either—she carried momentum from another major upset she pulled off just last year. knocking off No. 4 Jasmine Paolini in the second round.
Rybakina’s path through Paris looked different before the match started. Fresh off a win at the Australian Open earlier this year. she had been expected to contend for the trophy and was also widely viewed as a key obstacle remaining in the draw for No. 3 Iga Swiatek. Instead, she exited in an outcome described as one of the most unprecedented losses of her career.
With Rybakina out, Swiatek’s route to the French Open finals looks clearer than ever. Aryna Sabalenka’s absence from that side of the bracket further reshapes the landscape, and No. 29 Jelena Ostapenko’s loss in the second round leaves Swiatek facing a draw that could swing wider in her favor. The numbers are striking there as well: Swiatek is 0-6 against for her career versus Ostapenko.
The same bracket logic now moves directly into Starodubtseva’s next test. Her third-round matchup will be against the winner between No. 26 Hailey Baptiste and Wang Xiyu. At the time of writing. that match was in the middle of the first set. and Starodubtseva’s third-round appearance is set for Friday. May 29.
One moment can change the shape of an entire fortnight. In this case. it was a second-round comeback—first against Rybakina’s early control. then against the shock of being down three games to none—that turned a title expectation into a sudden exit. and opened up the kind of door that contenders only get to see when someone else trips at the worst possible time.
French Open Elena Rybakina Yuliia Starodubtseva Iga Swiatek Coco Gauff Billie Jean King Hailey Baptiste Wang Xiyu Jasmine Paolini Aryna Sabalenka Jelena Ostapenko tennis results May 27 May 29