The two-time Grand Slam champion Barbora Krejcikova found her rhythm at Wimbledon, reaching the round of 16, and carried that form to the European hard courts. She won her ninth career title at the inaugural Athens Open, defeating home favorite and fourth seed Maria Sakkari in the final. Then she returned to her hometown of Prague and reached the semifinals of the event, losing to Lilli Tagger in a grueling three-set match. 

Since she started her North American hard court swing, the 30-year-old has yet to win a match in her last three appearances, the latest being the US Open. The 27th seed was defeated by Kamilla Rakhimova 7-6(4), 6-2 in the first round on Sunday, becoming the first seed to fall at this year’s tournament across either the men’s or women’s draw.

At least for a set, the score line doesn’t do justice to how competitive it was. Krejčíková battled through the first set on Court 17 before Rakhimova closed the tiebreaker 7-4. The Czech’s level then plummeted, and Rakhimova finished the second set 6-2 to make it an upset in one hour and 53 minutes.

In fact, the Czech out-hit her rival, scoring 22 winners to Rakhimova’s eight and serving seven aces to Rakhimova’s one. She faltered with 41 unforced errors to Rakhimova’s 26, and eight double faults nullified much of the strength on serve, leaving her at only 61 percent on first-serve points won. Break points were equally costly, as Krejčíková managed to convert just 2 of her 4 chances, while Rakhimova converted 4 of her 5.

The 27th seed found herself in a section of the draw that might have given her a third-round clash with top seed and two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka. That is not going to come true this year, though, and Sabalenka’s journey this year through the early rounds looks a little easier now.

The defeat marks Krejčíková’s fourth straight loss and ends a North American hard court swing winless. After missing five months of the 2025 season with a back issue, she missed another three months this year due to a thigh problem and now is lacking the rhythm she has in those areas of matches when her level drops.

Rakhimova, who has never ranked higher than the 60s in her career, now has a standout win to add to her season. Next up for her will be the winner of Oksana Selekhmeteva and Aoi Ito on Wednesday.

Krejcikova’s ranking slide lowest in five years

Barbora Krejcikova had reached the quarterfinals of the US Open last year, losing to Jessica Pegula, but that had earned her plenty of points to keep her ranking healthy. Exiting in the first round this year would mean she would lose all of those points from her total, causing a fallout which will be the lowest ranking position she has held in the last five years. 

Her live ranking sits at 1246 points, which puts her provisionally No. 38. With the Athens title and a semifinal at the Prague tournament earlier this summer, she has enough of a margin to stay in the top 40 for the time being. The outcome of how far the players below her get in the draw in the next two weeks will still determine where she comes in the official post-tournament list. 

Hence, the WTA Finals look very much out of reach. All the Grand Slams are done for the 30-year-old Czech, and only two WTA 1000 tournaments are remaining in the season. She will have to rely on small WTA 250 and 500 events to rack up those points and break into the top 30 before next year.