Coco Gauff faced an unexpected defeat at the hands of Anastasia Potapova, ranked 28th, during Saturday’s action at the French Open.
Prior to this match, Gauff held a perfect 5-0 record in the third round of the French Open and secured the initial set of their encounter. However, Potapova claimed the subsequent set, marking the first set loss for the defending women’s champion in this year’s competition.
Despite trailing 3-1 in the decisive third set, Potapova strung together three consecutive game victories to move ahead. Although Gauff leveled the score at four games each, Potapova then clinched the concluding two games, securing the surprising victory with a final score of 4-6, 7-6, 6-4.
For the 25-year-old Potapova, this marks only her second advancement to the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament in her entire career. Her most recent participation at this stage was in the 2024 French Open, where she ultimately lost in straight sets to the player who would become the eventual champion, Iga Świątek.
Following one of her most significant career victories, Potapova is now expected to refocus and prepare to compete against Anna Kalinskaya, ranked 22nd, on Monday. Should she triumph in that upcoming match, Potapova would progress to her inaugural Grand Slam quarterfinal.
Gauff’s premature exit represents an occurrence not witnessed in the past three years. This marks the earliest elimination for a defending champion at the French Open since 2022, when second-seeded Barbora Krejčíková suffered an unexpected defeat in the opening round against Diane Parry.
Gauff now joins numerous other highly-ranked competitors who have been eliminated within the initial three rounds of this year’s French Open.
Among the top 10 seeds who have exited the singles draws within the first three rounds are Jessica Pegula (ranked 5th, 1st round), Elena Rybakina (ranked 2nd, 2nd round), Amanda Anisimova (ranked 6th, 3rd round), Alexander Bublik (ranked 9th, 1st round), Daniil Medvedev (ranked 6th, 1st round), Taylor Fritz (ranked 7th, 1st round), Ben Shelton (ranked 5th, 2nd round), Jannik Sinner (ranked 1st, 2nd round), Alex de Minaur (ranked 8th, 3rd round), Novak Djokovic (ranked 3rd, 3rd round), and Gauff herself.
