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French Open Day 7: Coco Gauff rallies to win, Taylor Fritz falls in third round

While one prominent American advanced, another fell in the third round of the 2023 French Open.

No. 6-seeded Coco Gauff moved on to the fourth round after she won the final two sets of a three-set match against unseeded 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva. Gauff, only 19 herself, lost the first set on a tight tiebreaker but cruised in the final two to pull off the win, 6(5)-7(7), 6-1, 6-1. Gauff made it to the final of the 2022 French Open where she lost to Iga Świątek.

Gauff spoke highly of the young Andreeva, who was making the first Grand Slam appearance in her career.

"Mirra is super young and there's a big future for her," Gauff said. "I remember I was here playing at 16 years old. She has a lot to look forward to. You guys will hopefully see many more matches between the two of us."

Taylor Fritz, the No. 9 seed, didn't fare so well. After an opening set win over No. 23 seed Francisco Cerúndolo of Argentina, Fritz, the No. 8-ranked ATP player in the world, dropped the final three sets to lose in five sets, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5. Fritz has never advanced past the third round at the French Open and only made it past the fourth round in a Grand Slam once.

How other Americans fared

Kayla Day lost to Anna Karolína Schmiedlová of Slovakia in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3.

Marcos Giron lost in four sets to Nicolás Jarry of Chile, 2-6, 3-6, 7(9)-6(7), 3-6.

Bernarda Pera beat Elisabetta Cocciaretto of Italy in straight sets, 6-4, 7(7)-6(2).

Rybakina withdraws

Day 7 at Roland-Garros opened with a sad end for Elena Rybakina's time at the French Open. The 2023 Australian Open runner-up and 2022 Wimbledon champion withdrew from her third-round match with Sara Sorribes Tormo after she said she picked up a cold in Paris.

"I was already not feeling good yesterday and the day before, so I didn't sleep two nights and had some fever," she said. "I really tried on the warm-up, but I feel that the right decision is to withdraw, because it's really tough to play with these conditions."

Rybakina, the No. 4 seed, was on an eight-match win streak before she pulled out of the competition.

Świątek cruises to victory

No surprise here, but Iga Świątek, the top seed in the women's field, breezed through to the fourth round after a 6-0, 6-0 win over Wang Xinyu of China. The match took just 51 minutes.

Ruud beats Zhang

The No. 4 seed out of Norway lost his opening set to unseeded Zhang Zhizhen of China, but Ruud found his groove to win the final three sets and advance to the fourth round in a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-4 victory. Ruud made it to the finals in last year's French Open before he lost to Rafael Nadal.

Etcheverry upsets Ćorić

Unseeded Tomás Martín Etcheverry took down No. 15 seed Borna Ćorić of Croatia in three sets, 6-3, 7(7)-6(5), 6-2. The 23-year-old Argentine has never advanced past the second round in a Grand Slam, and now Etcheverry will face No. 27 Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan.

Other notable results

Nishioka defeated Thiago Seyboth Wild in five sets after he won the final two sets. Nishioka dropped the first set, almost lost the second set and lost the third set before he rallied to pull off the win, 3-6, 7(10)-6(8), 2-6, 6-4, 6-0.

No. 6 Holder Rune beat Genaro Alberto Olivieri in three sets, 6-4, 6-1, 6-3. The 20-year-old Dane advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2022 French Open and the fourth round of the 2023 Australian Open.

No. 14 Beatriz Haddad Maia came back after a first-set loss to defeated No. 23 Ekaterina Alexandrova, 5-7, 6-4, 7-5.