PARIS, June 2. /TASS/. Russia’s Yekaterina Alexandrova fell in the Round 4 of the 2025 French Open on Monday, losing to American Coco Gauff.

In a match that lasted 1 hour 22 minutes and finished with a tense tiebreak, the 2nd-seeded Gauff outplayed 20th-seed Alexandrova, who is playing as a neutral athlete at the tournament, 6-0; 7-5.

In the quarterfinals, Gauff will now await the winner of the Round 4 encounter between two of her compatriots - the 7th-seeded Madison Keys and unseeded Hailey Baptiste.

Gauff, now on to her fifth straight French Open quarterfinals, said after the match against Alexandrova: "I think the whole match I played well to be honest."

"She stepped up her game in the second. Some balls I thought I hit a good shot and she'd hit a winner on the line," the tournament’s official website quoted the US player as saying. "If she wins like that I can keep my head up high, so overall I think I played great."

"I think I move well on clay and [am] really comfortable with sliding and moving on the surface," Gauff continued.

"I think that's what my results credit to. I think the physicality - it's the most physical surface for sure and I do well in that department," the 21-year-old American tennis star added.

Alexandrova, 30, is currently ranked 20th in the WTA Rankings and has five career WTA tournament titles under her belt. Her best career finish in Grand Slams was in 2023 and in 2025, when she reached the fourth round of Wimbledon and French Open respectively. She is also the winner of the 2021 Billie Jean King Cup.

One of tennis’ four Grand Slam events, the 2025 French Open is taking place in Paris, nicknamed the "City of Light," between May 25 and June 8. The tournament is played on outdoor clay courts at the Stade Roland Garros. Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek from Poland are the tournament’s reigning champions on the men's and women's sides respectively.

Russian players’ neutral status at tennis tournaments

On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments, citing Moscow's special military operation in Ukraine as the reason.

Following the IOC's recommendations in late February 2022, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) ruled on March 1, 2022 to suspend the membership of the Russian and Belarusian national tennis federations while also canceling all previously scheduled tennis tournaments in the two countries.

On March 14, 2022, the ITF also confirmed its prohibition on the Russian and Belarusian national tennis teams from taking part in the 2022 Davis Cup and 2022 Billie Jean King Cup.