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Coco Gauff rued an inability to take her opportunities under pressure as her reign at Roland Garros ended in a shock third-round loss at the hands of a stellar Anastasia Potapova, who recovered from a set down before holding her nerve in the final stages of a bruising match to win 4-6, 7-6 (1), 6-4.
Gauff, who had reached at least the quarter-finals of the French Open for the last five editions, led by a break in the final set before losing five of the final six games. The American, the fourth seed, said she felt she had failed to perform under pressure in the decisive moments: “[I was] just not capitalising on certain shots. I mean, at 3-all [in set three] I had a couple of break points and missed, I think, two backhands or three backhands, which just can’t happen in that scenario.
“I don’t know. I feel like I’m practising well, and when the moments get there, I’m not quite translating that. I do it at times, and then I also don’t do it. I think it’s just a learning experience, and hopefully when I’m in this position again, I can make better decisions.”
Despite the surprise ending, this was no fluke result for Potapova, the 28th seed, who had arrived in Paris as one of the dark horses after a fine clay court season that included a semi-final berth at the Madrid Open. The Russian-born Potapova chose to represent Austria during the off-season after spending her career representing he native land. “I’ve been here for 10 years on tour,” the 25-year-old said. “This is the first time I managed to do this well and, yeah, to stay this consistent. Well, maybe it’s a combination of everything, of the experience that I have from previous years, of also a maturity that I [have] grown up, that I changed the mentality in my head.”
As the top half of the women’s draw lost its champion, the top half of the men’s draw was left to pick up the pieces after the seismic upsets of Jannik Sinner losing to Juan Martin Cerúndolo on Thursday and Novak Djokovic to João Fonseca on Friday. Djokovic’s defeat meant that, despite it still being so early in the tournament, a new grand slam champion is assured in the men’s draw.
The half vacated by Sinner was particularly a world of opportunities with just one player inside the entire section, the 2021 Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini, having even reached a grand slam final in their career. This is nearly an unprecedented scenario in the recent history of men’s tennis. As this group of inexperienced, untested players tried to seize this seemingly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Saturday was dominated by a series of marathon five-set matches.
While Cerúndolo had been fortunate to defeat a physically diminished Sinner, two days later the Argentinian made his own luck in an astounding 6-4, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (4), 6-7 (7), 7-6 (8) win over the young Spaniard Martin Landaluce. At five hours and 58 minutes, this is the third longest match in the history of the tournament and the longest overall match since the final set tiebreak was implemented at grand slam matches in 2022.
After navigating so many injury issues in recent years, Berrettini put himself in contention for another significant run by surviving two match points before defeating Francisco Comesaña of Argentina 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (13) in a cool five hours and 13 minutes. Matteo Arnaldi also toiled for five sets before reaching the fourth round with a four hour, 58 minute 6-4, 6-7 (5), 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (4) win over Raphaël Collignon. Zachary Svajda of the United States was a fourth winner in five sets, defeating the 25th seed Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4.
The surprise finalist will not be the 17-year-old Frenchman Moïse Kouamé, whose breakthrough run ended in a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (9) defeat at the hands of Alejandro Tabilo of Chile. “Today I lost. Maybe tomorrow I’ll be winning, and I’m happy because I played well. I made interesting things during the week, so it’s not a loss that poses me a problem. It’s a loss which I’m certain is going to help me grow in the future,” said Kouame.
“I have learned an awful lot about myself, and this loss, perhaps, has given me more than the two wins. To answer your question, I’m not a bad loser. I’m a loser who learns from his mistakes and always tries to bounce back.”
While so many players battled to the limits of their physical abilities, perhaps the competitor best placed for a potential run to the final was the one who has so far managed to avoid all drama. Flavio Cobolli, the talented 24-year-old Italian seeded 10th, still has not dropped a set and he rolled into the fourth round with a supremely impressive 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 win over another talented young player in Learner Tien, the 18th seed.
