PARIS \u2014\u00a0A minor car crash\u00a0couldn’t sidetrack\u00a0Coco Gauff\u00a0before she began her\u00a0French Open\u00a0title defence.<\/p>\n
It took a player who could match the American’s court coverage in long baseline rallies to mark the end of the road for Gauff in Paris.<\/p>\n
That player was Anastasia Potapova, who produced a 4-6, 7-6 (1), 6-4 victory over Gauff in the third round on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was able to finish the points and I wasn\u2019t,\u201d Gauff said. “Just not capitalizing on certain shots.”<\/p>\n
The match was played before mostly empty stands inside Court Philippe-Chatrier as French fans stayed away to watch the\u00a0Champions League soccer final.<\/p>\n
Gauff\u2019s second Grand Slam title\u00a0came with a victory over top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka in the final at Roland Garros a year ago.<\/p>\n
Before her opening victory over Taylor Townsend on Tuesday, Gauff was involved in a car accident on the way to the tournament grounds. She wasn’t injured, but the car wasn’t drivable anymore.<\/p>\n
The 30th-ranked Potapova, who was born in Russia but now represents Austria, improved to 3-2 in her career against Gauff. She’s having quite a clay season after reaching a final in Linz, Austria, and the semifinals of the Madrid Open as a qualifier.<\/p>\n
The fourth-ranked Gauff was coming off a run to the Italian Open final. She was beaten in Rome by Elina Svitolina \u2014 another player who can match her on long rallies.<\/p>\n
\u201cI lost the same way in Rome as I did here,\u201d Gauff said. \u201cYou never want to lose the same way back-to-back times.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Gauff shanked a forehand wide on Potapova’s first match point, Potapova fell on her back and covered her eyes as she stuck her feet up in the air in celebration. Gauff waved to the crowd and quickly walked off court when it was finished.<\/p>\n
\u201cCoco is such a champion. I respect her so much,\u201d Potapova said. \u201cI\u2019ve been fighting for the last point and here I am.\u201d<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t a matter of mistakes for Gauff \u2014 she hit three double-faults to her opponent\u2019s eight and had 46 unforced errors to Potapova\u2019s 56. It was more that Potapova controlled more in the longer rallies and wore Gauff out.<\/p>\n
Gauff ran a total of 2,309 meters (yards) to Potapova\u2019s 2,090.<\/p>\n
Osaka\u2019s fashion statement<\/p>\n
Earlier,\u00a0Naomi Osaka\u00a0beat 18-year-old American opponent Iva Jovic 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-4 after nearly three hours \u2014 in her 100th Grand Slam match \u2014 to set up a round-of-16 meeting with top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka.<\/p>\n
Sabalenka beat Daria Kasatkina 6-0, 7-5.<\/p>\n
For her second-straight match,\u00a0Osaka wore a metallic gold bomber jacket\u00a0over a sequined gold playing dress during her walk-on. But this time her outfit was offset by a tannish-gold colored train that stretched all the way down to the red clay on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a surprise every time,\u201d Osaka said of her fashion choices.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, it would be weirder to wear a normal tennis kit, almost, at this point. It\u2019s the fun of it. For a long time, I didn\u2019t have fun for a little bit. And you guys know that period of time in my life,\u201d Osaka added, referring to how in 2021 she withdrew from the French Open because of\u00a0issues with anxiety and depression. \u201cNow I just want things to be fun, and I want to make it exciting for myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Osaka\u2019s outfits are planned a year and a half in advance and require at least four fittings.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have so many fittings throughout the year because your weight can fluctuate or the fabric can change a little bit,\u201d she said. \u201cThere is a lot of effort that goes into it.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the seventh straight day of the tournament, it was\u00a0hot and humid, with the temperature rising to 34 degrees Celsius (93 degrees Fahrenheit). The heat is expected to break for Sunday and the second week.<\/p>\n
Midway through Osaka\u2019s victory, a spectator was carried out of the stadium on a stretcher because of an apparent illness.<\/p>\n
In men\u2019s action, Alejandro Tabilo ended the run of\u00a017-year-old Frenchman Moise Kouame\u00a0with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (9) victory.<\/p>\n
Juan Manuel Cerundolo followed up\u00a0his stunning victory over top-ranked Jannik Sinner\u00a0with another five-set victory, beating Martin Landaluce 6-4, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (8) in 5 hours, 58 minutes \u2014 the longest French Open match in six years.<\/p>\n
Cerundolo will next meet 2021 Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini, who required 5 hours, 13 minutes to defeat Francisco Comesana 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (13).<\/p>\n
Flavio Cobolli beat Learner Tien 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 and will next meet unsung American\u00a0Zachary Svajda, who defeated Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3.<\/p>\n
Later, Felix Auger-Aliassime plays American opponent Brandon Nakashima. At No. 4, Auger-Aliassime is the highest-seeded player remaining in the top half of the draw after\u00a0Sinner\u2019s defeat.<\/p>\n
Organizers moved the small\u00a0advertising boards\u00a0at the back of the court to behind the line judges after complaints about safety.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PARIS \u2014\u00a0A minor car crash\u00a0couldn’t sidetrack\u00a0Coco Gauff\u00a0before she began her\u00a0French Open\u00a0title defence. It took a player who could…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":704594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-704593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=704593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/704594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=704593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=704593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=704593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}