Defending champion Coco Gauff and sixth-seeded Amanda Anisimova on Saturday became the latest high-seeded players to bow out of the 2026 French Open.

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No. 28-seeded Anastasia Potapova overcame a first-set setback and eight double faults to notch a 4-6, 7-6 (1), 6-4 win over the fourth-seeded Gauff at Roland Garros in Paris.

“Coco is such a champion, I respect her so much” said Potapova, who was born in Russia but now represents Austria. “I am also a little bit proud of myself that I stayed here fighting to the last point. And I’m here.”

Buoyed by the support of the home crowd, unseeded Frenchwoman Diane Parry posted a 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (3) victory over Anisimova.

Gauff and Anisimova joined fifth-seeded Jessica Pegula in earning early exits from the tournament. Kimberly Birrell recorded her first-ever French Open victory on Tuesday with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Pegula.

Gauff looked poised to take control of her match while up 40-15 with Potapova serving at 3-3 in the third set. However, she failed to convert either break point before Potapova rallied to end the match and reach the Round of 16 at a Grand Slam for the second time in her career.

Anisimova held a 5-4 lead in the final set with the chance to break the 23-year-old Parry but was unsuccessful in her bid to end the match, The two were tied at 3-3 in the tiebreaker before Parry rattled off seven consecutive points to pick up the win in 2 hours and 44 minutes.

“It was really tough for me, because it was really hot, and I’m not feeling my best physically,” Anisimova said. “Didn’t train yesterday, so I was dealing with something. I tried to do my best until the last moment, but I feel like it just was getting worse and worse for me through the match.

“A lot of mistakes. It was just really disappointing for me, but I get it. At the same time, she was playing well, she stayed calm, and she did all the right things. All can I really do is accept that that’s the way it was.”

Parry advanced to the fourth round of a major for the first time in her career. She will face Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska, who posted a 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Maria Sakkari of Greece.

“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. “I will try to prepare the match and recovery really well to be at 100% for the next match and to be able to take this opportunity and go further in the tournament.”

Also on Saturday, top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus breezed to a 6-0, 7-5 victory over Daria Kasatkina of Australia, while 25th-seeded Diana Shnaider of Russia battled through a tough first set before securing a 7-5, 6-1 win over Oleksandra Oliynykova of the Ukraine.

Sixteenth-seeded Naomi Osaka notched a 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-4 triumph over No. 17 Iva Jovic, while 22nd-seeded Anna Kalinskaya of Russia also needed three sets for a 6-3, 0-6, 6-2 win over Camila Osorio of Colombia.

Zachary Svajda remembers late
dad after latest French Open win

Unheralded American Zachary Svajda continued his surprise French Open run on Saturday by posting a 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3 victory over No. 25 Francisco Cerundolo to reach the fourth round in Paris.

Svajda committed 18 fewer unforced errors (59-41) than Cerundolo while thriving on the clay at Roland Garros.

The run is emotional for Svajda, whose father, Tom, died of cancer last October. Saturday would have been Tom’s 61st birthday, and Svajda pointed to the sky after finishing off the victory.

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“I was thinking about that,” Svajda said. “I was nervous. I know he’s proud of me, and I want to perform well and win. When I got that match, the last point, I just teared up, fell to the ground like, ‘Oh my gosh, what is happening?’”

Cerundolo of Argentina had the edge in aces (13-10) and winners (61-43), while Svajda scored well by converting 6 of 9 break points.

Svajda will next face No. 10 Flavio Cobolli, who sailed to a 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Learner Tien.

Due to a slew of upsets, Cobolli is the third-highest-seeded player remaining in the field. The Italian is also aware that not a single former champion remains in the field.

“Of course I want to think match by match,” Cobolli said. “That’s the way that I want to think this week.”

“I know that there are many possibilities to have a new Grand Slam champion. For sure, we will have a new Grand Slam champion, but I don’t want to think about this. For sure, I have now another tough match.”

No. 4 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada remains the highest seed in the top half of the bracket after his 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (1) defeat of No. 31 Brandon Nakashima. He and Cobolli join No. 2 Alexander Zverev of Germany as Top 10 seeds to make the Round of 16.

Argentina’s Juan Manuel Cerundolo, who upset top-seeded Jannik Sinner of Italy on Thursday, needed five hours and 57 minutes to finish off a 6-4, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (6) victory over Spain’s Martin Landaluce. The match was the third-longest in Roland Garros history.

Juan Manuel Cerundolo won 214 points to Landaluce’s 213 and held a 16-6 edge in aces. Landaluce had more winners (87-76) and also committed more unforced errors (86-71).

No. 19 seed Frances Tiafoe won his second straight five-setter, rallying from two sets down to beat Portuguese qualifier Jaime Faria 4-6, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (4), 6-1, 6-2.

He’s the first American man to reach the fourth round of the French Open in back-to-back years since Andre Agassi in 2001-03.

“It was great,” Tiafoe said. “Even if I would tell you that I feel tired, it doesn’t matter. It just feels good to get through that. It wasn’t looking good there for a lot of that match. These ones are big. Just gave myself another chance to stay in the event.”

Italy’s Matteo Berrettini also won a lengthy match with a marathon fifth-set tiebreaker, outlasting Argentina’s Francisco Comesana 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (13) in five hours and 13 minutes.

“Francisco played an unbelievable match,” said Berrettini, who lost in the 2021 Wimbledon final. “It was an unbelievable match, I really had to find my way (through) and I gave it everything I had.”

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