French Open 2026 results: Defending champion Coco Gauff loses to Anastasia Potapova

This means one of Potapova, Kalinskaya, Parry or Poland’s Maja Chwalinska is guaranteed to reach the semi-finals at Roland Garros – and none of them have ever reached the quarter-finals in Paris before.

After losing the opening service game, Gauff saved two more break points from trailing 4–2 before fighting back to win the next four games to secure the first set against Potapova.

The momentum shifted at the start of the second set when Potapova’s deep shots caused trouble for the defending champion as she opened a double break.

Trailing 5-2, Gauff saved two set points before falling back to level at 5-5, but lost the tiebreaker when unforced errors and double faults disrupted her play.

As the third set progressed, Potapova’s excellent defending forced Gauff into more errors as her deep forehand increased points and the Austrian’s persistence paid off as she made a decisive break to win the match.

“I feel like I’ve been training well, and when it gets to that point I don’t quite translate that. Sometimes I do that, and then I don’t,” Gauff said.

“Losing is one thing but I think I didn’t do that today, so I competed, I did my best but I don’t think I played the way I wanted in the crucial moments.

“I guess that’s the thing, when I see the momentum is on my side, I have to keep pushing the gas instead of giving up a little bit and I think that’s what I did.”