Coco Gauff advanced to the fourth round of the French Open on Friday with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Australian Open semifinalist Dayana Yastremska.
The No. 3-seeded Gauff pressured her opponent into committing 38 unforced errors on Court Philippe Chatrier and converted five of her 11 breakpoints.
After several seeded players were knocked out of the tournament on Thursday, Italy’s Elisabetta Cocciaretto pulled off another upset by defeating No. 17 Liudmila Samsonova 7-6 (4), 6-2 on Court Suzanne Lenglen. Cocciaretto, ranked No. 51, reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in her career.
She will play Gauff next. The pair have met twice before, with Gauff winning both times.
“She is definitely a fighter,” Gauff said about the Italian.
Gauff is the reigning U.S. Open champion and was a finalist at the French Open in 2022.
Qualifier Olga Danilovic, ranked no. 125, beat Donna Vekic 0-6, 7-5, 7-6 (8) to make her first fourth-round appearance at a Grand Slam tournament.
After rain disrupted play during the last three days, more showers were forecast for the afternoon. The play had already been interrupted twice on Friday.
Russian sixth seed Andrey Rublev suffered a surprise third-round exit from the French Open at the hands of Italian Matteo Arnaldi on Friday.
Rublev, a 10-time Grand Slam quarter-finalist, slipped to a 7-6 (8/6), 6-2, 6-4 defeat against world number 35 Arnaldi on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
Arnaldi will face either former runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas or China’s Zhang Zhizhen in the last 16.
“It’s incredible, I think I played the best tennis in my life,” said Arnaldi. “I wasn’t even expecting it.
“He (Rublev) didn’t play his best tennis for sure, but I used my best tactics to put him under pressure.”
The 23-year-old has matched his previous best run at a Slam event when he reached the US Open fourth round last year before losing to Carlos Alcaraz.
Rublev, who won the Madrid Open title last month, missed a set point in the opening tie-break before becoming increasingly agitated.
He repeatedly threw his racquet to the ground during the match and then hit himself in the knee with it in the third set.
Rublev never regained his composure and Arnaldi closed out the match with a love service hold.
It is the second straight year Rublev has lost in the third round to an Italian on the same court, after blowing a two-set lead against Lorenzo Sonego 12 months ago.
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