In April, Anastasia Potapova stood on the brink of dropping out of the top 100, with her ranking falling to No. 97. The 25-year-old Austrian is now back inside the world’s top 25.

On Saturday, she continued her resurgence by reaching the fourth round of the US Open for the first time with a straight-sets win over No. 10 seed and 2025 runner-up Amanda Anisimova.

Potapova won the first set 6-2 but had a tougher time closing out Anisimova in the second. The American broke twice to take the lead, but Potapova broke back each time before going on to win the second set 7-5 and complete the victory in 1 hour, 39 minutes.

“Well, to be honest, we had tactics before the match, which don’t match my game, so it already was not easy,” Potapova said in press. “But the way I managed to use the tactics, I think it’s one of the best games that I’ve ever had.”

The win sends Potapova into the fourth round of the US Open for the first time and into the Round of 16 at a Grand Slam for the third time in her career, following appearances at the 2024 and 2026 French Open.

When asked about her journey to get here, Potapova reflected on the experience and maturity that have helped her find her footing.

“It just takes all the past years that I’ve been on tour, all the matches that I’ve played, to learn from that,” she said. “The people who also help me to understand some things. And maturity really plays a big role in becoming better and better.”

It was Potapova’s third win over a top-10 opponent this season on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz, with both of her previous victories coming on clay — against No. 4 Coco Gauff at the French Open and No. 2 Elena Rybakina in Madrid. The victory also marked her eighth Grand Slam match-win of the season, a career first.

For Anisimova, who reached the final here last year before losing to Iga Swiatek in the championship match, the loss dropped her record against players ranked inside the top 30 to 4-10 this season.

Andreeva awaits in the fourth round

Up next for Potapova is No. 5 seed Mirra Andreeva, who came from a break down in the second set to defeat Czech Nikola Bartunkova 6-2, 7-6 (5) and reach the fourth round in New York for the first time in her career.

The victory was Andreeva’s 14th Grand Slam match-win of 2026, surpassing her previous best of 13 Grand Slam wins in a season, set last year. World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka leads the tour with 16 Grand Slam match wins in 2026.

It also marked Andreeva’s 43rd tour-level win of the season, the most she has recorded in a single season in her career. Only Jessica Pegula and Elena Rybakina have more WTA-level main-draw wins in 2026.

Andreeva leads Potapova 3-1 in their career head-to-head. After Potapova won their first meeting in Monastir in 2022, she has lost their last three encounters — at Wimbledon in 2023, the US Open in 2025 and Linz in 2026.

“It’s good that it’s not going to be for the first time,” Potapova said of Andreeva. “I think that will help, speaking of the experience from the past years. But again, it’s a completely different match [from Anisimova]. I always had a different opponent when I was in the fourth round of the Slam. But I think for sure, the experience from the past can help me in the future. I really believe in that.”