Defending champion Gauff out of Roland-Garros in the third round; Potapova confirms marvellous clay-court spring
Anastasia Potapova edged out the defending champion Coco Gauff 4-6, 7-6 (1), 6-4 on Saturday evening and will play Russian Anna Kalinskaya, the No 22 seed, in the next round
Anastasia Potapova and Coco Gauff, Roland-Garros 2026 |© Gepa / PsNewz
Coco Gauff, the defending champion and fourth seed, was beaten 4-6, 7-6(1), 6-4 by Austrian 28th seed Anastasia Potapova in two hours and 37 minutes on Court Philippe-Chatrier on Saturday evening – the most significant women’s upset of the tournament, and a result that will drop the 22-year-old American out of the world’s top five for the first time in three years.
Potapova, the 25-year-old Russian-born player who switched her sporting nationality to Austria in December 2025 and has spent her first five months as an Austrian player rebuilding from outside the world’s top 100, took control of a contest that had looked, after the first set, like it would follow the form line.
Gauff had served and ball-struck her way to a 6-4 opening set without alarm, and led 3-1 in the third with the break. From there Potapova found the level that had been visible at moments through her clay swing and that Gauff, on her last three meetings against her, had not been able to neutralise. The Austrian broke Gauff back to 3-3, broke again to lead 5-4, and served the match out on her second match point.
It is Potapova’s ninth career win over a top-10 player, her third consecutive win over Gauff in three meetings since the start of the year, and her second appearance in the round of 16 at a Grand Slam – both of which have come at Roland-Garros, the surface she has consistently played best on.
Kalinskaya next, in an open draw
She has now beaten the world No. 2 and the world No. 4 in this clay season, after taking out Elena Rybakina earlier in Madrid. In early April she was ranked No. 97. She has won 14 of her last 17 matches, close to reach the Top 25.
The aftermath carried its own weight. Potapova fell flat on her back as the final point dropped, then quickly reached for her right forearm – a movement she repeated when she came off the court and began icing the elbow. Whether the injury affects her round-of-16 contest is the next question of her tournament; the level she produced for the last two sets on Chatrier is the answer to the question of what she is capable of when the wrist holds.
The reward is a fourth-round meeting against Russian 22nd seed Anna Kalinskaya, who has had a comparable week. Kalinskaya beat 2025 Roland-Garros semi-finalist Loïs Boisson 6-2, 6-2 in the first round, Alina Korneeva 7-6(2), 6-4 in the second, and Colombia’s Camila Osorio 6-3, 0-6, 6-2 on Saturday – Osorio having come into that match off a straight-sets second-round dismissal of Ekaterina Alexandrova, the 14th seed. Two seed-killers meet in the round of 16.
With Gauff gone, the half of the draw that began with Australian Open champion Rybakina, 2024 runner-up Paolini and the defending champion as its three biggest names is down to one of them – Iga Świątek – and Potapova has become the floater of the section that points to a quarter-final against Świątek or Kostyuk.
Roland-Garros Women’s Singles – 3rd Round
A.Sabalenka (1) vs D.Kasatkina – 6-0, 7-5
N.Osaka (16) – I.Jovic (17): 7⁷-6⁵, 6³-7⁷, 6-4
V.Mboko (9) vs M.Keys (19) – UPCOMING
D.Shnaider (25) – O.Oliynykova: 7-5, 6-1
A.Potapova (28) – C.Gauff (4): 4-6, 7-6, 6-4
A.Kalinskaya (22) vs C.Osorio: 6-3, 0-6, 6-2
M.Chwalinska – M.Sakkari: 1-6, 6-3, 6-2
D.Parry – A.Anisimova (6): 6-3, 4-6, 7-6
E.Svitolina (7) – T.Korpatsch: 6-2, 6-3
B.Bencic (11) – P.Stearns: 6-3, 6-3
M.Kostyuk (15) – V.Golubic: 6-4, 6-3
I.Swiatek (3) – M.Linette: 6-4, 6-4
M.Andreeva (8) – M.Bouzkova (27): 6-4, 6-2
J.Teichmann – K.Muchova (10): 6-1, 7-5
S.Cirstea (18) – S.Sierra: 6-0, 6-0
X.Wang – Y.Starodubtseva: 6-3, 7-5
Women’s Singles – 4th Round (upcoming)
N.Osaka (16) vs Sabalenka (1)
D.Shnaider (25) vs (Mboko/Keys winner)
Potapova (28) vs Kalinskaya (22)
M.Chwalinska vs Parry
E.Svitolina (7) vs B.Bencic (11)
M.Kostyuk (15) vs I.Swiatek (3)
M.Andreeva (8) vs J.Teichmann
S.Cirstea (18) vs X.Wang
