The defending Roland Garros champion is out, with Coco Gauff having lost earlier tonight.
Despite taking a one-set lead over Anastasia Potapova, it was the Austrian who roared back in a topsy-turvy affair laden with unpredictable breaks of serve.
Coco Gauff did not perform poorly, but failed to make her opportunities pay, with nerves clearly a factor in the bigger points.
Meanwhile, her opponent was fearless, with a near-perfect second-set tiebreak epitomising her brilliance.
So, other than Iga Swiatek, we have a WTA field that has never won this title before. Potapova, as the woman to dethrone the previous champion, should now fear nobody.
Anastasia Potapova reacts after beating Coco Gauff at Roland Garros
Speaking to the Philippe Chatrier crowd immediately afterwards, she unsurprisingly cut an emotional figure.
After all, she had given everything throughout the clash and collapsed to the ground once the match had been won.
Who is now your favourite to win the women’s Roland Garros title?
With Coco Gauff out, the draw feels WIDE open…
Potapova was lost for words, but managed to find a few to praise Gauff: “I don’t have any words now. I’m extremely happy and the fight that we could show, both of us.
“I mean, Coco is such a champion, and I respect her so much. And yeah, I’m unbelievably proud of myself as well, that I stayed there, that I kept fighting for the last point and yeah, here I am.”
Then, asked if this was the biggest win of her career, she added: “I think I’ve had a few before as well, but for sure it’s up there. I would put it in this top three for sure.”
Gauff spoke about the conditions at Roland Garros earlier in the week,
The women’s Roland Garros draw is now wide open
With Gauff out, it leaves just one former French Open champion left in the draw.
If Swiatek is to lose anytime soon, we will therefore be guaranteed a new winner at this event.
Aryna Sabalenka will count herself as the favourite, as last year’s finalist, whilst other in-form stars such as Marta Kostyuk and Elina Svitolina cannot be overlooked.
Serena Williams will go further than Coco Gauff at Wimbledon – Prove me wrong!
If Naomi Osaka were to topple the world number one, then surely she would catapult herself into Roland Garros contention.
And yet, Mirra Andreeva continues to silently carve her way through the draw, as a former semi-finalist in Paris.
Just like on the men’s side now, this draw is wide open. For the neutral, this could make for a thrilling second week in the French capital.
