May 30 (Reuters) - 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 breakthrough season that has followed her switch to representing Austria.
"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.
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 semi-finals of a WTA 1000 event when she made a surprise run in Madrid, where she defeated former world number one Karolina Pliskova as well as former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko and world number two Elena Rybakina.
Potapova pointed to a number of reasons 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."
(Reporting by Janina Nuno Rios in Mexico CityEditing by Christian Radnedge)
