Tennis May 31, 2026

Coco Gauff: French Open defending champion suffers shock third-round exit to Anastasia Potapova at Roland-Garros

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By Admin
Sports Journalist
Coco Gauff: French Open defending champion suffers shock third-round exit to Anastasia Potapova at Roland-Garros

Defending French ‌Open champion Coco Gauff ​suffered a shock third-round exit at Roland-Garros as the world No 4 was beaten 4-6 ​7-6 (7-1) 6-4 by Anastasia Potapova.

Gauff struggled to handle ‌the 28th-seeded Potapova's aggressive tennis but bagged the opening ⁠set, only ​to allow ​her opponent ​to come back ⁠strongly in the next ⁠two and ​clinch the victory.

Potapova rattled Gauff with powerful baseline hitting and ​broke to love in the opening game, ‌then took a 4-2 lead before the American came storming back to take four games on the spin to claim the first set.

Potapova immediately ramped up the pressure again to grab a double break at the start of the second set. The Austrian was on the verge ⁠of levelling the match when 5-2 up, ​but back came Gauff again.

She moved through the gears to ​surge ahead by again claiming four games in a ​row, only to lose the next and then ⁠the set in a tiebreak where her serve let her down.

The pair traded breaks in a breathless decider, but Gauff eventually lost her way ​as Potapova took control and went through in style ​for a meeting with 22nd seed Anna Kalinskaya in the fourth round.

"She was able to finish the points and I wasn't," Gauff said. "Just not capitalising on certain shots."

Gauff's second Grand Slam title came with a victory over top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka in the final at Roland Garros a year ago.

The 30th-world-ranked Potapova, who was born in Russia but now represents Austria, improved to 3-2 in her career against Gauff. She's having quite a clay season after reaching a final in Linz, Austria, and the semi-finals of the Madrid Open as a qualifier.

The fourth-ranked Gauff was coming off a run to the Italian Open final. She was beaten in Rome by Elina Svitolina - another player who can match her on long rallies.

"I lost the same way in Rome as I did here," Gauff said. "You never want to lose the same way back-to-back times."

Naomi Osaka once again lit up Roland-Garros with her choice of outfit as well as her talent on court as she beat American teenager Iva Jovic to set up a meeting with world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the fourth round.

Osaka had to dig deep for a hard-fought 7-6 (7-5) 6-7 (3-7) 6-4 victory ‌over 17th seed Jovic, in a match lasting two minutes short of the three-hour mark, while Sabalenka had a more comfortable afternoon in disposing of Australian Daria Kasatkina 6-0 7-5.

France's Diane Parry, who arrived at her post-match press conference wearing a Paris St Germain shirt ahead of their Champions League final meeting with Arsenal, pulled off a sizeable upset to beat Wimbledon and US Open finalist Amanda Anisimova 6-3 4-6 7-6 (10-3).

Russia's Diana Shnaider beat Ukraine's Oleksandra Oliynykova 7-5 6-1 after Oliynykova accused her of being a propagandist for the war between their countries.

In the men's draw, 17-year-old Frenchman Moise Kouame wowed the Roland-Garros crowd in his third round match on Saturday, but ultimately faltered against Alejandro Tabilo, who came through 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (11-9) after three hours and 43 minutes.

Former Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini prevailed ‌in a gruelling five-hour battle with Argentinian Francisco Comesana, winning 7-6 (7-3) 5-7 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 7-6 (15-13).

Fellow Italian, 10th seed Flavio Cobolli, meanwhile dismantled ‌American Learner Tien 6-2 6-2 6-3 to ‌also advance to the fourth round.

Tien, ranked 18th, went into the match on a ‌six-match winning streak after capturing his first clay title in Geneva ‌last week but was ​beaten in convincing fashion by Cobolli.

Juan Manuel Cerundolo, who beat world No 1 Jannik Sinner ‌in his previous match, overcame Martin Landaluce 6-4 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (7-4) 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (10-8) to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time, where he'll face Berrettini.

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