Aryna Sabalenka suffered a shock third round defeat at the Italian Open against Sorana Cirstea.
Sabalenka was beaten by Hailey Baptiste at the Madrid Open, and was hoping to bounce back in Rome.
The world number one made a strong start in the Italian capital, with Sabalenka beating Barbora Krejcikova in her opening match.
Sabalenka had won her last two matches against Cirstea, including at the Brisbane International earlier this year, but she came unstuck at the Italian Open.
Aryna Sabalenka suffers her earliest defeat at a tournament in 14 months
WTA Tour veteran Cirstea, who is retiring at the end of the 2026 season, came from a set down to beat Sabalenka 2-6, 6-3, 7-5.
This means that Sabalenka is still yet to win the Italian Open, with her best result at the tournament coming in 2024 when she lost in the final to Iga Swiatek.
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However, perhaps most notably for Sabalenka, it also brings an end to a 14-month streak for the Belarusian.
Prior to the Italian Open, Sabalenka had reached the quarterfinals at her last 17 consecutive tournaments.
The last time that Sabalenka had lost prior to the quarterfinal stage was at the 2025 Dubai Tennis Championships 14 months ago, where she was beaten in the third round by Clara Tauson.
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It has been a relatively disappointing clay court season so far for Sabalenka, having failed to reach the semifinals in either Madrid or Rome, winning just four of her six matches across both tournaments.
Following her third round exit from the Italian Open, Sabalenka will lose 150 ranking points from reaching the quarterfinals in Rome last year.
This leaves Sabalenka with a 1,405 point lead over world number two Elena Rybakina in the current live WTA rankings.
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Rybakina could close that gap to 470 points if she went on to win the Italian Open title, as she did in 2023.
However, the Kazakhstani is confirmed to drop 392 points already, as she has elected not to defend her title at the WTA 500 tournament in Strasbourg.
The closest Rybakina can be to Sabalenka in the rankings ahead of the French Open is 862 points, leaving her with a significant gap to close in Paris.
This gap is not as big as it seems, as Sabalenka is defending 1,300 points from the French Open last year, while Rybakina has just 240 points to defend.
Rybakina will now look to take advantage of Sabalenka’s exit from the Italian Open, where she will play Alexandra Eala for a place in the fourth round.
