She was almost out of the top 100 in April. Since then she has reached the final in Linz, the semi-finals in Madrid and the second week in Rome, at Roland-Garros and now here, and is back up to No. 24 in the live rankings.
Asked on court whether the fearlessness in her game extends beyond it, she did not hesitate. “Yes, I’m a little bit crazy, but in a good way,” Potapova said. “I’m probably not scared of anything. I’m always looking for adrenaline in my life. I’m super excited for the next one. It was a very nice match today.”
Anisimova’s season never took off
Anisimova arrived in New York as the No. 10 seed and the reigning runner-up, having also reached the Wimbledon final in 2025 and hit a career-high World No. 3 in January. This year had produced nothing comparable, with a semi-final at the Dubai WTA 1000 her best result and 16 of her 21 tour-level wins coming on hard courts.
The tournament had started well enough. She beat compatriot Ashlyn Krueger 6-1, 6-3 on her birthday and then survived 18-year-old Austrian Lilli Tagger 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, a win that took her to the third round at all four majors in a season for the first time in her career. She said afterwards that she had stopped viewing the tournament as something to defend. “I don’t really necessarily look at it as defending,” she said. “I just look at it as a new tournament and another opportunity.”
Anastasia Potapova is the first player competing for Austria to reach the 4th round at the US Open since Sybille Bammer in 2008.
Potapova, who beat French wild card Leolia Jeanjean 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 and Latvian lucky loser Darja Semenistaja 6-2, 6-2 in the opening rounds, has never reached a Grand Slam quarter-final. She plays the winner between Mirra Andreeva, the No. 5 seed, and Czech Nikola Bartunkova.
US Open 2026, WOmen’s singles, round 3
A. Sabalenka [1] d. K. Rakhimova: 6-3, 6-4
T. Townsend d. D. Shnaider [15]: 6-2, 6-7(3), 6-3
M. Kostyuk [11] d. E. Alexandrova [18]: 6-3, 6-2
L. Noskova [6] d. A. Li [29]: 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-2
J. Pegula [3] d. L. Fernandez [31]: 1-6, 6-4, 6-3
S. Cirstea [16] d. J. Paolini [19]: 6-3, 6-3
A. Kalinskaya [21] d. E. Svitolina [9]: 6-3, 2-6, 6-3
E. Navarro [26] d. K. Muchova [7]: 6-3, 7-5
M. Andreeva [5] vs N. Bartunkova – not played
A. Potapova [24] vs A. Anisimova [10]: 6-2, 7-5
I. Jovic [14] vs A. Eala [17] – not played
C. Bucsa vs C. Gauff [4] – not played
I. Swiatek [8] vs M. Bouzkova [25] – not played
M. Keys [22] vs Q. Zheng (Q) – not played
N. Osaka [13] vs E. Mertens [23] – not played
Y. Starodubtseva vs E. Rybakina [2] – not played