Published May 31, 2026
Defending champion Coco Gauff was dramatically dethroned by Anastasia Potapova at the French Open, while world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka weathered the chaos to oust Daria Kasatkina and reach the fourth round of Roland Garros.
After a tough two days for the clay-court Grand Slam enthusiasts, with falls from Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic, Gauff couldn’t find her best level on Saturday, losing 4-6, 7-6 (1), 6-4.
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“I don’t know. I had a chance,” Gauff said after the loss.
“I just tried to take advantage of the good points that I was hitting but not finishing…that was the difference. She was able to finish the points and I couldn’t.
“It’s one thing to lose, but today we competed and gave it our all, but I don’t think we played as well as we wanted in the big moments.”
Potapova shocked Gauff with a powerful baseline hit and beat Love in the opener before the American slipped and fell to the floor of Court Philippe Chatrier as she tried to reach for the ball, giving her a 4-2 lead.
Gauff dusted herself off in front of a sparse Center Court crowd and won her next two games, with attention divided between the Champions League soccer final between Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal in Budapest and home crowd favorite Moises Kouame.
Gauff’s premature exit leaves four-time champion Iga Swiatek and Sabalenka as the favorites to win the Suzanne Lenglen Cup, while Potapova will be seen as the dark horse after a significant upset.
“I’m having a little cramp, but I’m fine. I’m fine. I’m speechless right now. I’m very happy,” Potapova said in an on-court interview, clutching her right arm after the 2-hour, 37-minute blowout.
“Coco is truly a champion and I have so much respect for her. I’m incredibly proud to have stayed there and fought to the end.”
Sabalenka earlier defeated Kasatkina 6-0, 7-5 on a sun-drenched court, defeating Suzanne Lenglen for her 100th win in the women’s top ranking, becoming only the ninth player to achieve the feat since the inception of the WTA rankings.
She joins Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Chris Evert, Serena Williams, Martina Hingis, Monica Seles, Justine Henin and Swiatek on the honor list.
“I got goosebumps,” Sabalenka said. He suffered from a dip in form and service failures a few years ago.
“It means the world to me. And I’m really happy that I stayed tough in the difficult moments. I kept fighting and never gave up, and that’s what it got for me.”
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Matteo Berrettini put up a good fight against Francisco Comesana, winning 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (15-13) in 5 hours and 13 minutes to book a match against the sinner-killer Juan Manuel Cerundro.
Cerundolo won his epic record with a 6-4, 6-7 (9), 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (10-8) win over Martin Landaluce in a match that lasted less than two minutes out of six hours. However, his younger brother Francisco lost to Zachary Svaida 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3.
Alejandro Tabilo stopped 17-year-old Frenchman Moise Kouame’s solo run 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (11-9) in another long match, but local fans had plenty of reason to celebrate as Diane Parry defeated sixth seed Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (10-3).
Madison Keys used her experience to defeat 19-year-old Victoria Mboko 6-3, 5-7, 7-5.
Former world number one Naomi Osaka previously shone in an all-gold outfit, but she had to work harder to secure a 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-4 victory over American teenager Iva Jovic.
Italian fans then found new hope after Sinner’s defeat as Flavio Cobolli sent out another young American with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Lerner Tien, before Matteo Arnaldi defeated Rafael Collignon 6-4, 6-7 (5), 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (10-4).
