Yulia Starodubtseva lost in the first round of Wimbledon 2026
Ukrainian tennis player Yulia Starodubtseva was eliminated from the singles competition at Wimbledon after the first round of the main draw. In a tense 1/64-final match, the Ukrainian lost in three sets to Anna Blinkova, a “neutral” representative of the aggressor country. The match lasted 2 hours and 25 minutes and ended with a score of 7–6(3), 4–6, 1–6.
Throughout the opening set, the opponents played evenly and exchanged breaks twice. In the tenth game, Starodubtseva had the opportunity to close out the set on her own serve, but she squandered that chance and forced a tiebreak. At the decisive moment, the Ukrainian seized the initiative, allowing her opponent only three points, and claimed the set.
However, Yulia was unable to build on that success in the following sets. In the second set, Blinkova made a key break in the seventh game, which Starodubtseva was never able to recover from. In the decisive third set, the Ukrainian completely lost her momentum, managing to win only one game, and thus ended her run at the grass-court major in London. In the next round, Blinkova will face the winner of the match between Marta Kostyuk and Nadia Podoroska.
As a reminder, Marta Kostyuk failed to reach the Roland Garros final, losing to Mirry Andreeva in two sets, and after the match honestly explained what prevented her from playing her best. Despite the loss, the Ukrainian achieved her best-ever result at a Grand Slam tournament and will climb significantly in the WTA rankings.
On Thursday, June 4, Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostyuk, who defeated Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals, will play in the semifinals of the 2026 French Open. Her opponent will be Russian player Mira Andreeva. The match will determine one of the finalists of the prestigious Grand Slam tournament in Paris.
Svitolina also secured a confident victory over an American player and advanced to the round of 16 at Indian Wells.
Sobolenko lost in the quarterfinals of the French Open.
Following inspections in May, the two largest payment terminal networks—EasyPay (LLC “FC ‘Kontraktovy Dom’”) and City24 (LLC “Swift Garant”)—were hit with massive fines: 135 million hryvnias each.
