Starodubtseva, a former college player and tennis coach in the United States, returns to the Roland-Garros third round to meet either No.26 seed Hailey Baptiste or China’s Wang Xiyu.
“Honestly, it’s hard to describe. I’m super happy. Elena is one of the top players, has had an incredible year,” said the 26-year-old.
“I expected her to come back. You can’t be thinking it’s ever going to be easy, even at 3-0 up (in the decider), I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be easy. That was so!
“It was a very hard third set, a very tough match, but I got it done! I’m very proud I could do this today.”
More to follow…