Gauff after Paris loss: "Didn't play the way I wanted to" in key moments

It wasn't just that Coco Gauff couldn't overcome Anastasia Potapova on Saturday at Roland Garros. She also couldn't buck a recent trend.

The American saw her French Open title defense end in the third round with a 4-6, 7-6(1), 6-4 defeat -- a loss where Gauff pointed to "not quite finishing" points where she was in a winning position, or winning games when she had opportunities to.

"I think that was the difference, that she was able to finish the points and I wasn't," Gauff said in her post-match press conference. 

The 2 hour, 37-minute loss was Gauff's fourth tense three-set defeat in the four tournaments she played on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz during the spring clay-court season, a stretch of results that also saw her lose a 4-1 third-set advantage against Linda Noskova in Madrid, and a 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-2 defeat to Elina Svitolina in the title match in Rome that lasted nearly three hours. 

While each of the opponents in that span were different -- she also lost to Karolina Muchova in Stuttgart, against whom she was previously 6-0 -- Gauff said they all had one thing in common: When momentum was on her side, she let up instead of keeping her foot on the gas.

Against Potapova, she had been two points from the win at 6-4, 6-5, 30-30 after having trailed 4-2 in the opener, and both 4-1 and 5-2 in the second set.

"When you lose the lead, [and] I have been in that position and you're playing from behind, you're a lot more freer because you're just, like, whatever," she said. "I think I need to have that same mentality when I'm behind, playing like that to get back into the lead, and I need to figure out how to make that mental switch of keeping that level of play when I do have the lead."

The American, who will leave the Top 5 in the PIF WTA Rankings with the loss, hopes to recalibrate for the upcoming grass-court swing. Wimbledon remains the only major where she has yet to reach the quarterfinals, and she has an opportunity to gain valuable ranking points at the All England Club after losing in the first round a year ago.

"I feel like I'm practicing well, and when the moments get there, I'm not quite translating that," she said. "I do it at times, and then I also don't do it. I think it's just a learning experience, and hopefully when I'm in this position again, I can make better decisions."