Holder Gauff beaten by Potapova; Sabalenka solid at French Open

Defending champion Coco Gauff has been dramatically dethroned at the French Open by Anastasia Potapova while world number one Aryna Sabalenka has cut through the chaos to dismiss Daria Kasatkina and reach the Roland Garros fourth round.

After a brutal two days for fancied players at the clay-court Grand Slam, during which Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic crashed out, Gauff was unable to find her best level on Saturday and lost 4-6, 7-6(1), 6-4.

“I don’t know. I had chances,” Gauff said after the loss.

“Just trying to capitalise more on these good points that I was hitting and not quite finishing, … that was the difference. She was able to finish points and I wasn’t.

“It’s one thing to lose, but today I competed, I fought my hardest but I don’t think I played the way I wanted to in the crucial moments.”

Potapova rattled Gauff with some powerful baseline hitting and broke to love in the opening game before taking a 4-2 lead when the American slipped and dropped to the floor of Court Philippe Chatrier while trying to reach the ball.

Gauff dusted herself off and won the next two games in front of a sparse centre court crowd with attention split between Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League football final with Arsenal in Budapest and home crowd favourite Moise Kouame in action.

Gauff’s premature exit leaves four-time champion Iga Swiatek and Sabalenka as the top contenders to win the Suzanne Lenglen Cup while Potapova will be viewed as the dark horse after having dished out a significant upset.

“I’m cramping a little bit, but it’s OK. It’s all good. I don’t have any words now. I’m extremely happy,” Potapova said in her on-court interview as she clutched her right arm after two hours and 37 minutes of big hitting.

“Coco’s such a champion, and I respect her so much. I’m unbelievably proud of myself that I stayed there and that I was fighting until the last point.”

Sabalenka earlier beat Kasatkina 6-0, 7-5 on a sun-drenched Court Suzanne Lenglen for her 100th win as the top-ranked woman, making her only the ninth player to achieve the feat since the inception of the WTA rankings.

She joined Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Chris Evert, Serena Williams, Martina Hingis, Monica Seles, Justine Henin and Swiatek on the honours list.

“I’ve got goosebumps,” said Sabalenka, who had struggled with dips in form and crippling service issues a few years ago.

“It means the world to me, and I’m just happy that in the tough moments I stayed tough. I was fighting and never gave up, and that is what it has brought me.”

Home crowd favourite Kouame falls

Matteo Berrettini brought plenty of fight to his clash with Francisco Comesana, prevailing 7-6(3), 5-7, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(15-13) in five hours and 13 minutes to book an encounter with Sinner-slayer Juan Manuel Cerundolo.

Cerundolo came through his own epic 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 was two minutes short of six hours. But his brother Francisco lost 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3 to Zachary Svajda.

Alejandro Tabilo ended the run of French 17-year-old Moise Kouame 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(11-9) in another long contest, but local fans had plenty of reason to celebrate as Diane Parry battled past sixth seed Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(10-3).

Madison Keys showed her experience to see off 19-year-old Victoria Mboko 6-3, 5-7, 7-5.

Former world number one Naomi Osaka earlier dazzled with an all-gold outfit but had to dig deep for a hard-fought 7-6(5), 6-7(3), 6-4 victory over American teenager Iva Jovic.

Flavio Cobolli then sent out another young American with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 win over Learner Tien before Matteo Arnaldi got past Raphael Collignon 6-4, 6-7(5), 5-7, 6-4, 7-6(10-4) as Italian fans found new hope after Sinner’s defeat.