Reigning champion Coco Gauff has been ousted in the third round of the French Open. The No. 4 seed came back from a break down in the first set against Anastasia Potapova but still suffered a shock 4-6 7-6(1) 6-4 defeat to the in-form 28th seed.
The match saw 14 breaks of serve as Potapova continued her stellar clay season, and then sat on her bench and immediately iced her elbow. The Russian-born Austrian is through to the last 16 of Roland Garros for the second time in her career.
Potapova got into last month’s Madrid Open as a lucky loser and made the most of it. She shocked world No. 2 Elena Rybakina on her way to the semi-finals, then followed it up by getting to the last 16 in Rome. Now, she has caused yet another seismic upset at this year’s French Open.
On the women’s side, Rybakina and Jessica Pegula have already bowed out. And there are already no Grand Slam champions left in the men’s draw with Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic suffering huge upsets, while Daniil Medvedev, Stan Wawrinka and Marin Cilic also lost.
And there is only one former French Open women’s singles champion left here following Gauff’s shock three-set defeat – Iga Swiatek. It leaves ample opportunity for the likes of world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and four-time Major winner Naomi Osaka.
Gauff got off to a slow start when she was broken in the opening game of the match, but the American won the four games of the first set to take it.
Potapova raced into a 3-0 double-break lead in the second set, but neither woman could take command and kept breaking each other. Gauff found herself two points from victory when the Austrian served at 5-6 30-30 in the second set, but they went to a tiebreak.
The 2025 champion didn’t win a single point on her serve in the breaker, and Potapova forced a decider. It was neck-and-neck, and they broke each other to level the score at 3-3. Gauff had break point chances in the next game, but couldn’t take them, and it proved costly.
With Gauff serving to stay in the match at 4-5 down, Potapova sensed her opportunity. At match point, she ripped a return to claim victory and send last year’s winner packing. The 28th seed – who beat Britain’s Katie Boulter in the last round – had to ice her elbow at her bench following the two-hour and 37-minute contest before addressing the crowd.
She said: “I’m extremely happy and also with the fight we both showed. Coco is such a champion. I respect her so much. I am unbelievably proud of myself for fighting for the last point. I have had some big wins, but for sure this is up there, it’s in the top three.”