01/06/2026

SPORTS MONDAY | JUNE 1, 2026

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Coco eliminated Gauff French Open title defence ends, Sabalenka, Osaka set up last-16 clash

MATTEO BERRETTINI said he finally feels like he can compete at a high level again after beat ing Francisco Comesana at the French Open to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam for just the second time since 2022. Berrettini, a former world No. 6, has struggled with fitness issues and missed eight of the 18 Grand Slams since his runner-up finish to Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon five years ago. Yesterday, the Italian pre vailed in a gruelling five-hour battle with Argentina’s Comesana, winning 7-6(3), 5-7, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(15-13). “I know what it takes to go deep in a slam, but at the same time, it’s also true that I haven’t been deep in a slam for a long time,” Berrettini told reporters after his win. “Coming into the tourna ment, I didn’t have the confi dence, like I had a couple of years ago, but at the same time, I feel like I have built this confidence up. “I’m in the fourth round, sec ond week of Paris, means that I can go deep. I’m playing well. Today was, I think, a high-level match. My weapons are working, physically I’m there, and fingers crossed.” After the match, Berrettini appeared to be holding back tears as he waved to the crowd at Court Simonne Mathieu. “I doubted about myself a lit tle bit too much, I think, in the last months and years,” the 30 year-old said. “Even though I had unbeliev able support from my family, from my friends, from my team, and everybody kept telling me that I still had it in me. Sometimes I just have to con fess that I thought that I couldn’t come back, I couldn’t feel good on court again. “That’s why I was emo tional, because I proved to myself one more time that I can do this. “I can do it well, I can fight, I can enjoy my time on court.” Berrettini next faces another Berrettini regains confidence

TRAMLINES Vallejo sorry for criticising woman umpire PARAGUAYAN tennis player Adolfo Daniel Vallejo apologised for the remarks he made about the woman umpire who officiated his second round defeat at the French Open. After he lost to French 17-year-old Moise Kouame in a fifth-set tie break on Friday, Vallejo told tennis website Clay that Brazilian umpire Ana Carvalho had not been strong enough in the face of fan support for the local player. “This sort of match needs to be umpired by a man. It’s very difficult for a woman to do it,” the 22-year-old said. “It has to be refereed by a man, because it’s a very demanding crowd and you need a lot of strength to go against the crowd.” Vallejo took to social media to apologise. “I have respect for the umpire and for the job they do, after a 5 hour battle I was very heated and with a lot of emotions, I apologise,”Vallejo wrote on Instagram. In his post, Vallejo also said that his comments had been misinterpreted. “I also want to clarify that I didn’t blame the lost on her, she did a good job throughout the whole match”, which he lost in a super tie-break after 4 hours and 56 minutes of play. “I will learn and get better with this,”Vallejo added. Shnaider beats Oliynykova RUSSIAN Diana Shnaider beat Ukrainian Oleksandra Oliynykova at the French Open yesterday in a match overshadowed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The 23rd ranked Shnaider won 7-5, 6-1 to go into the fourth round after the build-up to the match had been dominated by Oliynykova, who is ranked 65th, accusing her oppo nent of “taking money” from a “company financing war crimes”. The players did not shake hands after the match. During her post match press conference on Friday after she had booked her meeting with Shnaider, Oliynykova bran dished her phone to show photos of Shnaider playing in an event sponsored by Russian state energy company Gazprom and also some of the Russian’s social-media “likes”. “This is her on the picture on the Gazprom tournament,” said Oliynykova. “Gazprom is a com pany which is financing the war crimes… I think it’s the same as playing in Nazi Germany for Gestapo officers on the tourna ment organised by (the) company which built Auschwitz. There is no difference for me.” Shnaider played in a team exhibition tournament held last November in St Petersburg and sponsored by Gazprom.

R EIGNING champion Coco Gauff’s French Open title defence came to an end in the third round yesterday as top seed Aryna Sabalenka and Naomi Osaka both won to set up a blockbuster last-16 clash. Gauff went down 4-6, 7-6(7-1), 6-4 to Austrian 28th seed Anastasia Potapova as the top seeds continued to fall right up to the close of a scorching opening week at Roland Garros. The 22-year-old fourth seed had been a break up in the deciding set before Potapova put together a run of five games for the loss of just one to condemn Gauff to her ear liest Roland Garros exit since her debut in Paris six years ago.

trayed that today.”

In a match defined by breaks of serve, Gauff con ceded the crucial 10th game of the final set despite being 30-0 up behind her own delivery with a double fault sandwiched between two booming Potapova winners, before a pow erful return on her second serve forced her to hit long and bid adieu to the French capital. It was a third win for Potapova against Gauff – in their first meeting since 2023 – but she said it was a “top three (career victory) for sure”. With it she equalled her best ever Grand Slam performance, when she also reached the fourth round at the French Open two years ago. She can better that today when she faces 22nd seed Anna Kalinskaya. Sixth seed Amanda Anisimova also departed as the American fell in a third-set tie-break to France’s Diane Parry.

The two-time major winner insisted being the reigning cham pion had not affected her play, unlike in 2024 when she was defending her title in New York. “I think at the US Open it did a lot more but honestly this time it didn’t. I wasn’t really nervous,” Gauff said. “That’s what’s more frus trating because I felt like I learned a lot from that US Open experience and I’m a better player since then and I just don’t think I por

Former Australian Open winner Madison Keys edged ninth seed Victoria Mboko 6-3, 5-7, 7-5. Earlier, Sabalenka beat Australia’s Daria Kasatkina 6-0, 7-5 in just 76 min utes to stamp her ticket to the fourth round. After racing through the first set, Sabalenka went an early break down to her 53rd-ranked opponent before bat tling back. The Belarusian world No. 1 set up a meeting with her fellow quad ruple major winner, Osaka. Sabalenka and Osaka, both 28, have won two Australian Opens and two US Opens apiece.

Sabalenka has beaten Osaka twice this season, but Osaka won their only previous meeting at a major – at the same stage in the 2018 US Open, the first of her major titles. “I’m just ready for the

fight,” Sabalenka said of facing Osaka. “I’m ready to go out there to fight for that match, for that win. Ready to do any thing it takes to get the win.” The Japanese 16th seed battled past American 18-year-old Iva Jovic 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (3-7), 6-4 to progress. “I was a lot calmer than in my first matches... In a Slam the further I

get the calmer I am. It’s such an honour to be here,” Osaka, who had never before gone past the last 32 at Roland Garros, said. – AFP

Coco Gauff reacts during her match against Anastasia Potapova (not pictured) in the third round of the 2026 French Open yesterday. – REUTERSPIC

Argentinian in Juan Manuel Cerundolo, who beat world No 1 Jannik Sinner in the second round. – Reuters

Potapova credits Austria switch for big confidence boost

ANASTASIA POTAPOVA said representing Austria has left her feeling free and given her an extra boost of confidence as the Russian-born player secured an upset victory over defending champion Coco Gauff at the French Open on Saturday. The 25-year-old rallied from a set down to beat Gauff 4-6, 7-6(1), 6-4 in the third round, knocking out the fourth seed amid a break through season that has followed her switch to representing Austria.

when asked about how she has found such form. “I’ve been here for 10 years on tour. This is the first time I managed to do this well and stay this consistent,” she said. “Maybe it’s a combination of everything, of the experience that I have from previous years, of also a maturity that I grown up, that I changed the mentality in my head. “We switched a lot of things with my team. I switched my team, first of all, and then we started to work on the new things. I think it’s just giving a positivity now.” – Reuters

This season she has established herself among the tour’s most consistent performers on clay. Last month, Potapova became the first lucky loser to reach the semifinals of a WTA 1000 event when she made a surprise run in Madrid, where she defeated former world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova as well as former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko and world No. 2 Elena Rybakina. Potapova pointed to a number of reasons

“I think it’s also being a coincidence, which is nice, but also at the same time I do feel free, I feel better, I feel the support from Austrian people,” Potapova told reporters when asked whether her improved results were linked to the move. “For sure it’s given me extra boost of energy to fight for those wins.” Potapova, who began representing Austria after obtaining citizenship in December, is one of several Russian-born players to have switched allegiance since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.