Coco Gauff's five-year run of reaching at least the quarter-finals at the French Open ended abruptly on Saturday when No. 28 seed Anastasia Potapova defeated the fourth-seeded American 4-6, 7-6 (1), 6-4 in a third-round match that exposed Gauff's vulnerability in crucial moments.
The defeat stung because Gauff had held a break advantage in the final set before collapsing down the stretch, losing five of the last six games. In the critical moment at 3-all in set three, she squandered multiple break points on backhand errors that she acknowledged afterward should never occur at that stage of a match.
"I do it at times, and then I also don't do it," Gauff said. "It's just a learning experience, and hopefully when I'm in this position again, I can make better decisions."
Potapova's victory was no accident. The 25-year-old Austrian (who recently switched from representing Russia) arrived in Paris as a legitimate contender after reaching the Madrid Open semi-finals on clay. She credited her growth to a combination of tour experience and mental recalibration. "This is the first time I managed to do this well and stay this consistent," she said.
While the women's champion fell, the men's draw descended into unprecedented chaos. With Jannik Sinner already eliminated by Juan Martin Cerúndolo and Novak Djokovic upset by João Fonseca on Friday, a new grand slam winner is mathematically guaranteed despite the tournament being barely half-finished.
The situation in the top half vacated by Sinner borders on historic. Of the remaining players in that section, only Matteo Berrettini has ever reached a grand slam final. For a generation of relatively untested competitors, this represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity, and they seized the moment with a series of grueling five-set marathons on Saturday.
Cerúndolo, having benefited from facing a physically compromised Sinner, proved his upset was no fluke by defeating Spain's Martin Landaluce 6-4, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (4), 6-7 (7), 7-6 (8) in a near-six-hour epic. The match lasted five hours and 58 minutes, making it the third-longest in French Open history and the longest since the final-set tiebreak was introduced at grand slams in 2022.
Berrettini, long plagued by injuries, showed his championship pedigree survives by outlasting Argentina's Francisco Comesaña 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (13) in five hours and 13 minutes, surviving two match points in the process. Matteo Arnaldi ground through his own five-set test against Raphaël Collignon in four hours and 58 minutes, winning 6-4, 6-7 (5), 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (4). American Zachary Svajda added another five-set victory, defeating Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4.
The young French sensation Moïse Kouamé couldn't sustain his Cinderella run, falling to Alejandro Tabilo of Chile 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (9). The 17-year-old took the loss in stride. "Maybe tomorrow I'll be winning, and I'm happy because I played well," he said. "This loss has given me more than the two wins."
One player managed to avoid the chaos entirely. Tenth-seeded Italian Flavio Cobolli, now 24, has yet to drop a set and advanced to the fourth round with a dominant 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 display over 18th seed Learner Tien, a performance that may ultimately prove more valuable than all those five-set firefights.
Author James Rodriguez: "Gauff's collapse was self-inflicted, but Potapova is genuinely elite on clay, and the men's draw is genuinely wide open in ways we haven't seen in years."
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