Coco Gauff advanced to the French Open quarterfinals for the third consecutive year with a straight-sets win over Anna Karolina Schmiedlova.

With the win, the 19-year-old reaches her fourth career Grand Slam quarterfinal, where she will face No. 1 Iga Swiatek. Swiatek earned a 6-3, 6-1 win over Gauff in the 2022 championship match at Roland-Garros.

In Monday’s match against Schmiedlova, Gauff overcame a scraped knee during a tense first set and went on to claim a 7-5, 6-2 victory.

While Gauff came out on top in her fourth-round match, fellow U.S. star Sloane Stephens fell to No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, on Sunday.

Sabalenka raced out to a 5-0 lead in the first set, and while Stephens battled back to force a tiebreak, the 25-year-old Belarusian still prevailed to reach her first French Open quarterfinal.

“I think it was just a few key moments which I didn’t finish right, and then she started to believe in herself a little bit more,” Sabalenka said. “People started to support her more. She kind of played with that crush and was like going for the shots. I think she played unbelievable tennis.”

The Belarusian isn’t the only one to make her first trip to the quarterfinals. Beatriz Haddad Maia advanced to her first quarterfinals by taking down Sara Sorribes Tormo, becoming the first Brazilian to reach the French Open quarterfinals since 1968.

The three-set match between Haddad Maia and Sorribes Tormo lasted 3 hours and 41 minutes, the longest of the season and third-longest women’s match ever at Roland-Garros.

Ons Jabeur is also making her first French Open quarterfinal after defeating Bernarda Pera in the fourth round. Including this tournament, Jabeur has made the quarterfinals in each Grand Slam in her career. And Karolína Muchová is also appearing her first French Open quarterfinal.

2023 French Open: Quarterfinals

  • Tuesday, June 6
    • Karolína Muchová vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova — 5 a.m. ET
    • Elina Svitolina vs. Aryna Sabalenka — 6:30 a.m. ET
  • Wednesday, June 7
    • Coco Gauff vs. Iga Swiatek — TBD
    • Beatriz Haddad Maia vs. Ons Jabeur — TBD
  • All matches will be televised on the Tennis Channel.

U.S. tennis player Sloane Stephens believes racist abuse directed toward athletes is getting worse, particularly online, she said after her first-round win Monday at the French Open.

Such racism is something she has had to deal with throughout her career, the former U.S. Open champion said following her 6-0, 6-4 victory over Karolina Pliskova.

“Yes, it’s obviously been a problem my entire career,” Stephens said. “It has never stopped. If anything, it’s only gotten worse.”

Players at the French Open have access to an online tool designed to block harassment and hate speech, but Stephens has not used it. She does block certain key words on Instagram and take other measures to protect herself, but even still, abuse slips through the cracks, she said.

The French Open is the first of the four Grand Slams to introduce the tool. French Tennis Federation CEO Caroline Flaissier said players’ mental health is a “priority” for the tournament.

Following the US Open in 2021, Stephens also spoke out about the abusive social media messages that she receives, noting that the hate was “exhausting and never ending.”

Stephens isn’t the only player who has had to deal with harassment in her sport. Last year, Naomi Osaka was the subject of heckling at Indian Wells. Both Serena and Venus Williams boycotted the tournament beginning in 2001 over racial abuse and heckling, then abstained from the tournament for 14 years.

“To be honest, I’ve been heckled before, it doesn’t really bother me, but being heckled here, I watched a video of Venus and Serena getting heckled here, if you’ve never watched it you should watch it, and I don’t know why, but it got into my head and it got replayed a lot,” Osaka said at the time.

In 2021, the FBI was present at the tournament to monitor social media abuse.

According to Stephens, the abuse online has reached the point in the United States where the FBI is investigating allegations, although she did not specify a case.

“I mean, obviously when there is FBI investigations going on with what people are saying to you online, it’s very serious,” she said. “Obviously it’s been something that I have dealt with my whole career. I think that, like I said, it’s only continued to get worse, and people online have the free rein to say and do whatever they want behind fake pages, which is obviously very troublesome.

“It’s something I have had to deal with my whole career and something I will continue to deal with, I’m sure. That’s that.”

Sloane Stephens has a new coach.

The 2017 U.S. Open champion announced on Wednesday that she has brought on Francis Roig to join her team as her personal coach.

“Here’s to a successful journey together, let’s get to work,” Stephens tweeted.

Roig spent the last 17 years as the coach of Rafael Nadal, helping the world No. 2 win 22 Grand Slams. In a statement, he said that he wanted to work for more than one player.

“It’s been a pleasure and honor to work with Rafa and the rest of the team,” Roig said. “We never thought we could get so many results and have such a long career with him but Rafa’s a phenomenon and makes everything look easy.”

Likewise, Nadal called Roig a “great coach” who knows tennis “well.”

“I only have words of gratitude and I wish him all the luck in the world in his new project,” said Nadal.

Stephens made a comeback of sorts in 2022, winning the Abierto Zapopan tournament for her seventh career WTA title and first since 2018. Her best Grand Slam finish came in May at the French Open, where she rode two upset wins to the quarterfinals before falling to fellow American Coco Gauff in straight sets.

The 29-year-old finished the season ranked No. 37 in the world.

Naomi Osaka was down but not out Friday at the BNP Paribas Open, rallying against Sloane Stephens to take a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory.

It’s Osaka’s first win against Stephens in three matchups in what was a much-anticipated first-round clash at the Indian Wells tournament. The two last played in the 2018 WTA Finals in Shenzhen and had their first meeting in Acapulco in 2016.

It was also Osaka’s first time back at Indian Wells in three years. She withdrew last year, citing mental health reasons.

Osaka led the first set 3-1, 30-0 before Stephens made a five-game run to take the first set. Osaka then rebounded, winning the first four games of the second set and giving up just one game to take a 6-1 win in the second. In the decider, she went down 0-2 before saving three break points and mounting the comeback win.

The winds were high inside Stadium 1, with sustained desert gusts wreaking havoc on service tosses and ball bounces on the court.

“It was a bit frustrating but it was also funny at the same time because there was debris flying around the court,” said Osaka, currently ranked No. 78 in the world. “I’ve also never played a match that was that windy, so it was also a new experience.

“I haven’t played in wind like that for a while, so this was very new to me. I felt like I was fighting for my life. I was playing against her; I was playing against the wind. It was crazy. I just kept thinking she was going through the same circumstances as me, so I just had to will myself to try as hard as I could.”

Osaka will next take on Veronika Kudermetova.

Elsewhere, Amanda Anisimova cruised past Emma Navarro in just 53 minutes, securing the 6-2, 6-2 win. She’ll take on Canadian teen phenom Leylah Fernandez in the second round.

Emma Raducanu passed her first Australian Open test on Tuesday, defeating Sloane Stephens in three sets, 6-0, 2-6, 6-1.

The win gives the 17th seed a 11-1 record in Grand Slam matches.

Raducanu ripped through the first set in 17 minutes, making just two unforced errors. Stephens, the 2017 US Open Champion, broke Raducanu in the opening game of the second set on her way to pulling even.

“It was a tough match-up really for a first round, but I was just very happy,” Raducanu said after the match. “I knew there was going to be some very long rallies and her athleticism is really up there, so I was having to work extremely hard for my points, but I’m so happy to have got through.

“I think it was a really high-quality match, with some very long rallies. I’m very happy to come through against a great champion like her.”

It was a good way to rebound for Raducanu, who struggled at the Sydney Tennis Classic earlier this month, falling to Elena Rybakina 6-0, 6-1.

Raducanu will play world No. 98 Danka Kovinic in the second round.

Tennis star Sloane Stephens began 2022 on a high, marrying Toronto FC and USMNT forward Jozy Altidore in a New Years’ day ceremony.

The couple announced their engagement in April 2019.

According to People Magazine, guests were required to be fully vaccinated and provide proof of a negative COVID test prior to the wedding.

“I empathize with all the COVID couples out there who have had to make the tough calls and be flexible with the ever-changing pandemic,” Stephens told People. “We’ve all had to be super flexible, and I appreciate how accommodating our loved ones have been in making sure we have as safe and special a day as possible.”

The 2017 US Open champion had an up-and-down 2021 season, injuring her knee at Wimbledon after taking down No. 10 Petra Kvitova in the first round. She then made a comeback at the US Open where she knocked out fellow American Coco Gauff.

Following a third-round loss to Angelique Kerber, she spoke out about the abuse she received on social media.

Beginning Jan. 17, Stephens is set to compete in the first major of the WTA season at the Australian Open.