Paris, May 27: In a thrilling women’s singles match at the French Open, Yulia Starodubtseva made a remarkable comeback, defeating second-seeded Elena Rybakina. Ranked 55th in the world, Starodubtseva had a dismal record of 0-6 against top-10 players until this match, where she showcased exceptional skill to win 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (10-4).
The 26-year-old Ukrainian achieved her biggest career victory and created the tournament’s biggest upset this year. Starodubtseva, a former college player and tennis coach in the United States, has now advanced to the third round of Roland Garros, where she will face either 26th seed Hailey Baptiste or China’s Wang Xiyu.
Rybakina, who could have returned to the WTA Tour as the world’s number one player from Paris, initially took a 3-0 lead by breaking Starodubtseva’s serve at the first opportunity. She extended her lead to 5-1 after breaking serve again, but the Ukrainian player fought back. Despite Rybakina winning the first set 6-3, Starodubtseva turned the tide in the second set, breaking Rybakina’s serve twice to take a commanding 5-0 lead and winning the set 6-1.
With momentum on her side, Starodubtseva broke serve twice again in the decisive set, establishing a 3-0 lead and inching closer to victory. Just when it seemed Rybakina was on the verge of elimination, the Kazakh player regained her rhythm, breaking serve twice to level the set at 4-4. When the match reached a tiebreak in the third set, Starodubtseva surged ahead 6-2 and maintained her lead, ultimately winning after 2 hours and 28 minutes with a score of 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (10-4).
A key statistic from the match revealed that Rybakina committed 71 unforced errors compared to 23 winners, while Starodubtseva finished with 36 unforced errors and 13 winners.
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