French Open Widens After Coco Gauff’s Unexpected Exit

PARIS -- A day after Novak Djokovic's stunning loss to Joao Fonseca , and two days after Jannik Sinner's still staggering upset by Juan Manuel Cerundolo , defending champion Coco Gauff fell in three baffling sets to Anastasia Potapova , 4-6, 7-6 (1), 6-4, in the third round at the French Open.

On Saturday afternoon, a sun-soaked crowd at Philippe-Chatrier watched Gauff, the tournament's No. 4 seed, battle her way back after falling into early deficits in the first and second sets. But ultimately, she came up short in two hours and 37 minutes. When it was over with a forehand winner, No. 28 seed Potapova fell to the ground and onto her back.

After congratulating her opponent at the net, a shocked Gauff almost immediately made her way off the court. It was her earliest exit from the tournament since her main draw debut in 2020. Potapova called it one of the "top three" wins of her career, "for sure," and it will mark just her second round of 16 at a major.

There are a seemingly endless number of surprise victors, new faces and mind-blowing results at Roland Garros this year. At the end of the first week of the main draw, the 2026 French Open has become -- increasingly -- the wildest and most unpredictable Grand Slam in recent memory. Entering the fourth round, just three of the top 10 men and four of the top 10 women remain in the draw. It's the fewest top-seeded men in the second week at a major since the US Open in 2002, and the fewest top-seeded women at the French Open since 2022.

It's also the smallest group of combined top-10 players, men and women, in the fourth round at a Slam since Wimbledon in 2022.

And while some of the top women remain, including No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and four-time French Open champion and No. 3 Iga Swiatek , there is guaranteed to be a first-time champion on the men's side. The tournament hasn't crowned a debut major men's champion since Rafael Nadal in 2005.

"It's such an open tournament," Casper Ruud , a two-time finalist at the event, said after his third-round victory. "[It's] kind of refreshing, I guess, for everyone, to see that there will be a new Slam champion in about a week or so. I think every player is aware of it."

In addition to Sinner, who was the overwhelming favorite on the men's side in the absence of two-time reigning champion Carlos Alcaraz , 24-time major champion Djokovic, and now Gauff, who had arguably entered the tournament with as much momentum as anyone and is a proven winner on the red clay, other major champions such as Daniil Medvedev and Elena Rybakina are also gone, as are Slam finalists Taylor Fritz and Jessica Pegula . Medvedev, Fritz and Pegula were all sent packing in the first round.

Before Gauff and Potapova took the court on Saturday, the French crowd had seen countrywoman Diane Parry defeat No. 6 seed Amanda Anisimova , a former French Open semifinalist and two-time Slam runner-up, in a third-set tiebreak for a 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (3) victory.

Anisimova, who missed all of the lead-in events on clay with a wrist injury, said she wasn't feeling her best physically and had been unable to train Friday as a result.

But it still resulted in Parry punching her ticket to the second week at a major for the first time. And now she'll have a chance to reach the quarterfinals against Maja Chwalinska -- a qualifier in just the third Slam main draw of her career.

"We expect, usually, that far in a tournament to play a girl I think maybe in the top 20, so I think it's a big opportunity for both of us," Parry said after setting up the fourth-round clash.

By the end of the day on Saturday, No. 9 seed Victoria Mboko had also been eliminated in three sets by Madison Keys , the No. 19 seed and 2025 Australian Open champion.

In the men's draw, only No. 2 Alexander Zverev , No. 4 Felix Auger-Aliassime and No. 10 Flavio Cobolli remain of the top 10. For the women, in addition to Sabalenka and Swiatek, No. 7 Elina Svitolina and No. 8 Mirra Andreeva are the last ones standing.

Cobolli, who defeated No. 19 Learner Tien on Saturday, will meet Zachary Svajda -- the world No. 85 who is playing in his first main draw at the French Open. Cobolli said he is trying to focus on one match at a time.

"It's not easy, because for sure you see the draw," Cobolli told reporters. "You see all the matches. We have a lot of time to see the other matches and, you know, it's not easy to stay match-by-match, but I try to do it. For now, the only thing that I know is that I won three matches, and I have to play the fourth. So for now, I want to think about this."

There are four women remaining who have previously achieved major glory: Sabalenka, Swiatek, Keys and Naomi Osaka . And three others -- Svitolina, Andreeva and Belinda Bencic -- who have made it to Slam semifinals. Could one of those experienced players step up when it matters most? Or, will someone like Marta Kostyuk , the No. 15 seed who is on a 15-match win streak, continue to stay hot? Or can players like Potapova or Parry play spoiler yet again? Sabalenka, Swiatek and Andreeva are the favorites according to DraftKings, but it might just be anyone's title to win.

But while there have been a number of unexpected women's champions in recent years, the men have been largely consistent over the past two decades. Djokovic, Nadal and Roger Federer combined for 66 major titles from 2003 to 2023, and Alcaraz and Sinner have combined to win every major since the start of 2024. Medvedev was the last man outside of that group to claim a Slam trophy at the 2021 US Open. But someone else will -- finally -- join that list next week.

When speaking to reporters after her win on Saturday, Keys said she was excited to see the men's draw be "so wide open" and compared it to many previous women's draws.

"I think it will be interesting," she said. "It will really just kind of be who can handle the moment, who can figure out how to play their best tennis with way more mounting pressure. I think it's probably maybe a little bit different on the men's side, just because we've had so many long eras of 'these four people are the only people that we think are going to win.' So to now have literally a whole draw of people that could win, [and that] makes the sport interesting, at least."

But, she added that she has gotten too caught up at times on who has been eliminated from her quarter of the draw during tournaments. "Then it's, like, well, I have to get to the quarter," she joked.

Zverev, who has played in three major finals, including at the French Open in 2024, is the heavy betting favorite going into the fourth round, followed by Ruud. And then things get interesting. Cobolli has the fourth-best odds, and surrounding him are two names that are almost improbable. Rafael Jodar and Fonseca, two up-and-coming 19-year-olds who have been considered future superstars but had never previously appeared in the second week at a Slam, have the third- and fifth-best odds, respectively. Although many around tennis would have predicted both as future major winners, few saw them achieving the feat in 2026. But with each win they've achieved in Paris, especially after Fonseca's triumph over Djokovic, they've cemented their spots among the front-runners.

Although Fonseca could hardly think about that on Friday and didn't seem to think of himself as a contender for the title.

"For now, I'm just enjoying the moment," Fonseca said. "You know, I think just 10 minutes after the match I could realize a little bit what I did, what I achieved, how difficult it was, and how amazing it was for me. Yeah, I'm just in the fourth round.

"Of course, Jannik and Djokovic out, there's more chances for the guys that [have had] more time on tour, like Sascha [Zverev], Casper, or whatever."

_Originally reported by [ESPN](https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/48920877/coco-gauff-wide-open-french-open-upset-win)._