Roland Garros's First Major Shock: An Early Farewell for World No. 2 Rybakina

The biggest surprise of this year's Roland Garros came in the second round. The 2026 Australian Open champion and second seed of the tournament, Elena Rybakina, bid farewell to Paris after losing 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(10-4) to Ukrainian Yuliia Starodubtseva on Court Suzanne-Lenglen. For Starodubtseva, this was the biggest victory of her career.

The flow of the match was a complete turnaround story. Rybakina, who took the first set 6-3, seemed to have control of the match. But the Ukrainian player turned the table in the second set and went up 3-0 in the third. Rybakina recovered at the last moment to take the set to a tie-break, but in the 10-point deciding tie-break, Starodubtseva mercilessly punished the Kazakh star's mistakes, ending the match 10-4.

This defeat was a new chapter in Rybakina's ongoing "almost" story at Roland Garros. For the 26-year-old Kazakh with two Grand Slam titles (Wimbledon 2022, Australian Open 2026), Roland Garros remains the only major whose door has never been opened. The Kazakh star's best result in Paris is limited to two quarterfinal appearances.

Rybakina had been on an extremely strong run leading up to the season: a quarterfinal in Brisbane, the Australian Open title, a final in Indian Wells, a semifinal in Miami. This performance had carried her to world No. 2, right behind Sabalenka. But in Paris, contrary to expectations, she returned to the hotel, not to the depths of the court.

There is another dimension to Rybakina's exit: the bottom half of the women's draw has become much more open. This significantly increases the chances of four-time Roland Garros champion Iga Świątek, the third seed, reaching the final. In the upper half, a repeat of last year's final could happen as a semifinal between Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff.

In conclusion, while Yuliia Starodubtseva experienced the biggest moment of her career with a historic win, Elena Rybakina suffered yet another disappointment in Paris. The Kazakh star's next big target will be the grass season, where she feels extremely comfortable on court.