The French Open
Roland Garros 2026 Women’s Day 7
Top seed Aryna Sabalenka continued to dominate opponents, with the world No. 1 reaching the fourth round of the French Open on Saturday 6-0, 7-5 over Daria Kasatkina.
The 53rd-ranked Kasatkina came in with a strong pedigree after reaching the semi-finals here four years ago.
But the tournament lost its defending champion when Coco Gauff crashed 4-6, 7-6 (1), 6-4 to Anastasia Potapova.
Potapova began the match with a break to love and held that margin for seven games until Gauff broke back, 4-all, salvaging the set two games later.
The second set was marked by nine breaks of serve, with Potapova failing to serve for it while leading 5-2.
But the Austrian jumped on the ensuring tiebreaker, running out a 5-0 lead and securing five set points with a backhand winner.
One chance was enough as the erratic Gauff weakly netted a forehand to leave the match at a set apiece.
The third set was a slugfest, with Potapova of Austria firing a backhand down the line to set up a match point. A Gauff mis-hit ended her time as a Grand Slam champion.
Sabalenka, losing finalist a year ago, has won her last 15 matches against players ranked outside the top 50. She has now beaten adopted Australian Kasatkina in eight of their 10 meetings.
The top seed swept the opening set to love in 25 minutes but exchanged early breaks early in the second.
Sabalenka finished off a quick win as Kasatkina drove wide on a match point return, capping a Week 1 composed of straight-set victories.
“It’s been a great week, I’m happy to be in the second week,” the winner said. “I’m happy with my level against the fight that she brought.
“It’s a dream to play here and feel the crowd support.”
Sabalenka became the ninth woman to win 100 matches while holding the No. 1 WTA ranking.
“It means the world to me, I’m glad I stayed tough in the tough moments. I never gave up.
“I’m proud of myself and my team; we’ve been able to reach an amazing level.”
Sabalenka will duel on Monday with Naomi Osaka after the former No 1 booked the Paris fourth round for the first time after playing in her first third-round match here in seven years.
Osaka came good after going out in the third round in 2016, 2018 and 2019. She is now into the second week of a noon-hardcourt Slam for the first time.
The 16th seed defeated Iva Jovic 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-4 wearing another of her ever-changing array of outrageous outfits, this one comprising a floor-length sheer skirt which she stepped out of to reveal a sparkly golden-fringed tennis dress.
The battle lasted three hours, with Jovic sending a return long on match point.
“This was probably one of my best matches on clay,” the winner said. “It seems the farther I go the calmer I am.
“It’s a privilege to be here and get to the fourth round for the first time.”
Osaka was playing her 100th match at a Grand Slam and produced her 74th victory at this level.
She called her current success a welcome change from the first half of the season.
“I got injured in Australia, and then the Sunshine Swing wasn’t the greatest for me. I really wanted to make it a goal to do really well on clay and grass.
“I don’t want this to be my last (match at this edition). I want to keep going, I just want to keep focusing, every match.”
Qualifier Maja Chwalinska put a second Pole into the second week, joining four-time champion compatriot Iga Swiatek after a 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 fightback defeat of Maria Sakkari.
The underdog ranked 114 and playing in only her second Grand Slam main draw put her head into a towel and wept tears of joy after the biggest accomplishment of her career.
Chwalinska recovered from a set and a break down to put out her Greek opponent, a former Paris semi-finalist.
The underdog has never reached the quarter-finals of a WTA event.
Diane Parry kept home hopes alive with her 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (10-3) knockout of sixth seed Amanda Anisimova, who completely collapsed in the third-set tiebreaker.
Alexander Zverev on Thursday made a long-sought after return to the Shanghai Masters semi-finals, booking his first final four at the event since 2019, defeating Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-4.
The 2027 year-end No. 1 last got this far as the Covid pandemic began to surface in China in 2019. The event was not played 2020-2022, with the German making modest progress here over the past three editions since resumption.
After winning his 62nd match of the season, the 29-year-old was pleased with his performance.
“I think it was a huge step up. From just being on the court I felt both of us were playing really well.
“I was, a lot of the time, outhitting Alex, which is difficult to do from the baseline because he is so fast and he loves this kind of court speed here.
“I felt good and I’m happy with the step up from the past couple of matches.”
Zverev advanced in 78 minutes, sending over 10 aces as he defeated the Australian for the ninth time in their 13 matches.
Added the reigning Roland Garros and Flushing Meadows Grand Slam champion: “I’ve been handling pressure quite okay this year. In a way you play a bit more relaxed.
“Once Jannik (SInner) unfortunately announced he won’t play for the rest of the year, I’m 4,000 points ahead of everyone else, so I trust myself enough that I’m going to win [enough matches].
Zverev will play for the final to wrap up the Asian swing as he takes on Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who advanced when Arthur Gea quit their quarter-final with injury.
Alexander Zverev will claim world year-end No. 1 honours for the first time on the back of two Grand Slam titles and a final this season.,
The ATP confirmed the changing of the guard as current No. 1 Jannik Sinner ended his season early last week due to a knee injury which has kept him off court since winning Wimbledon three months ago.
Zverev won Roland Garros and US Open trophies and lost to Sinner in the All England Club final.
His reign at the top will begin after the ATP Final in Turin with the ranking period starting on November 23.
Zverev will be 29 years, 217 days old on the date, three days older than Andre Agassi in 1999 (29 years, 214 days).
Main photo:- Alexander Zverev by ISF Ltd
Zheng Qinwen continued an injury comeback season on Sunday, defeating Roland Garros winner Mirra Andreeva 7-5, 6-4 to win the China Open.
Victory at the 1000-level event was the first trophy for the 54th-raked Chinese player who once reached fourth in the world before elbow surgery.
Zheng saved three set points in the opening set and claimed victory by winning the last 11 points of the set, breaking late in the second to conclude her success over her teenaged opponent.
The winner now owns six career trophies after winning her first 1000; she last claimed a title in Tokyo two years ago.
In an odd twist, the new winner was cajoled into singing a few bars of karaoke during the trophy ceremony.
She will now move back into the ranking top 25 while Andreeva advances to third in the world behind Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka after defeating her third top 10 opponent this season.
“The feeling was incredible, two weeks here in Beijing, in front of my home crowd is one of my dreams, especially playing against Mirra, such a great player,” the winner said.
“I’ve been through a very, very tough year.”
Andreeva broke new ground in her own career by reaching the final, becoming the third-youngest this century to reach the top 3 behind Maria Sharapova and Kim Clijsters.
“She’s a great server. I also think today I missed a lot of returns trying to go for it, trying to be more aggressive,” Andreeva said,
“I wanted to go for it but couldn’t really find I guess the margin, couldn’t really find the rhythm, as well. I will probably need to look at this match and just see why, try to improve and learn from that.
“Overall of course it was a good tournament,” she added. “A lot of positives to take from these two weeks. Of course, I felt like today just wasn’t meant to be.
“I think I will be able to look to this match maybe from a different perspective and see maybe some good things.”
Main photo:- Zheng Quinwen by ISF Ltd
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