Elena Rybakina suffered a shock second round exit at Roland Garros as she lost to Yuliia Starodubtseva 3-6 6-1 7-6(10-4) in Paris.
The Australian Open tennis was way below her usual level as she lost in three sets to the Ukrainian.
It was a rapid start from Rybakina as she cruised through the opening set as she played flawless tennis.
The Kazakh took a 5-1 lead in the opening set and was seemingly cruising to the opening set in what was set to be a drama-free afternoon.
That was not the case. Starodubtseva showed signs of a comeback towards the end of the first set, gaining one of the breaks back before Rybakina took the opening set 6-3.
In the second set Starodubtseva upped her level and Rybakina produced one of the worst sets of tennis over the last 12 months.
A catalogue of technical and tactical errors saw Rybakina comfortably go 4-0 down as the Ukrainian was feeling confident and finding a next level or gear in her game.
While she managed to win a consolation game towards the end of the set, Rybakina was unable to launch a comeback as Starodubtseva took the second set and levelled this match at one set all.
As the final set began the unforced errors continued to mount for the world number two but Starodubtseva continued to punish the second seed as she secured a double break lead for 3-0.
There was a big upset brewing in Paris and Starodubtseva was seizing the moment but surely there would be a response.
Despite the unforced errors, Rybakina mounted a comeback and used variety and height to force errors from a tight and nervy Starodubtseva as she came back from 4-1 down to take a 5-4 lead in the deciding set.
The Ukrainian responded to the pressure with some emphatic serving as both players were now starting to elevate their level.
As a result, this match would be decided by a final set tiebreak with the first to ten points sealing their place in the third round.
A dominant tiebreak was produced by Starodubtseva as she held her nerve to seal the best win of her career so far.
On the other hand, it’s the biggest upset of the tournament so far as the world number two Elena Rybakina was ultimately punished for producing an inconsistent and poor performance in Paris.
It means that Sabalenka will most likely stay as the world number one come the end of the tournament.
As for Starodubtseva she will face either Xiyu Wang or Hailey Baptiste in the third round.
