Coco Gauff’s Roland Garros title defence came to an end after her defeat to Anastasia Potapova.
Gauff was beaten by Potapova 6-4, 6(1)-7, 6-4, which brought an end to her nine-match winning streak at Roland Garros.
After losing the match, Gauff admitted she didn’t play well in the crucial moments of the match, having been just one game away from winning in straight sets.
Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki has now reacted to Gauff’s defeat, pinpointing the biggest issue that she thinks caused the two-time Grand Slam champion to be beaten.
Caroline Wozniacki reacts to Coco Gauff’s defeat to Anastasia Potapova
Wozniacki spoke about Gauff’s defeat in an appearance on the ‘Served with Andy Roddick‘ podcast, highlighting the forehand as a real issue for the American.
Gauff won five consecutive games to come back in the second set, before losing in a tie-break, which Wozniacki believes gave Potapova real belief that she could win the match.
Who is now your favourite to win the women’s Roland Garros title?
With Coco Gauff out, the draw feels WIDE open…
“So she won that first set 6-4, she’s cruising, she’s not playing her best tennis and Potapova trying to kind of hit though Coco,” began Wozniacki.
“She gets up in the second set 5-1 and then Coco kind of claws her right back and then you’re like alright, Coco’s really grinding out there, she’s using her athleticism, she’s playing good with her backhand side, the forehand was not really functioning as we kind of got further into the match…and then you just feel like she started really doubting it, and she started slicing off the forehand side, she started playing high, just trying to kind of break the rhythm of Potapova.
“It kind of felt like when Coco came back and it was 5-5 and then they got into a tie-break, you felt like alright Coco got this in her pocket.
When she lost that second set, something in Potapova just went, you know what I can actually do this, I can win, you could just see the switch in her. She started playing more and more aggressive, they had some long rallies, but just not Coco’s day today, she never looked comfortable out there.
“She was fighting, she was doing everything possible, but she just never looked like she was feeling in the groove, so not a good day for the Americans.”
Coco Gauff set to drop down the rankings after Roland Garros defeat
Gauff’s defeat in the third round of Roland Garros is her earliest defeat at the clay court major since her debut in 2020.
As a result of being the defending champion, Gauff will now drop 1870 ranking points and is now at world number six in the live rankings.
This is Gauff’s lowest ranking since September 2024, and she could fall even further based on other results at Roland Garros this year.
Where will Coco Gauff be ranked at the end of 2026?
Gauff could be significantly impacted by this new ranking at Wimbledon, as it will mean she could play the likes of Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina from the quarterfinals, rather than the semifinals.
Grass has been Gauff’s weakest surface in recent years, and she will be looking to improve her results on it when she plays at the WTA 500 tournament in Berlin ahead of Wimbledon.
