Elena Rybakina has had a couple of concerning collapses this year and the latest came this past on Saturday, when the Kazakh blew a big lead and suffered a shock Washington semifinal loss.
After sealing a tight first set versus world No. 36 Leylah Fernandez, the No. 3 seed also went 3-1 up in the second set and had three consecutive break points to open a double-break second-set lead.
But then, Rybakina's troubles started. First, the Kazakh didn't manage to get a break in the fifth game. Then, the 2022 Wimbledon champion got broken for the very first time in the match when she was serving to seal the win in the 10th game. To make it all worse, she completely disappeared in the second-set tie-break and won only three points there.
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The third set was an extremely tight contest as not a single break point was seen. But then, the tie-break quickly turned into a one-sided battle as Fernandez took the opening four points before completing a 6-7 (2) 7-6 (3) 7-6 (3) comeback win.
It is not the first time this has happened to Rybakina this year
Over the last two months, Rybakina - ranked at No. 12 - has had three baffling losses.
In the French Open round-of-16, the Kazakh was all over Iga Swiatek early on and opened a dominant 6-1 2-0 lead before allowing the Pole to come back and win 1-6 6-3 7-5. In the Berlin quarterfinal, the 2022 Wimbledon champion had four consecutive match points in the third-set tie-break against Aryna Sabalenka before stunningly losing the next six points and seeing the Belarusian win 7-6 (6) 3-6 7-6 (6).
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In Washington, Rybakina had yet another collapse and lost herself when the time came for her to get over the finish line.
Rybakina is now 33-14 on the year. She has been ranked outside the top-10 since April and that won't change on Monday.
