Madison Keys entered fourth round action at Roland-Garros as the last American woman standing in the singles draw at the 2026 French Open, but a disastrous third set against Diana Shnaider (6-3, 3-6, 6-0) ended her dreams of capturing a second career grand slam title.
Keys struggled with her serve to start the match, getting broken in her first three service games to lose the first set. She settled in and flipped the script in the second set, rattling off six consecutive service game wins to force a decisive third set where she seemingly grabbed the momentum of the match. However, the service issues reared their ugly head as she lost the final set at love as the wheels came off in a disappointing performance to end her visit to Roland-Garros.
In a year where the favorites have been dropping like flies early in both draws, the 2026 French Open became a serious opportunity for players to pick up a rare grand slam title. The women's draw saw four-time French Open winner Iga Swiatek, 2-seed Elena Rybakina and last year's champion Coco Gauff all lose before the quarters -- and top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka still has to face Naomi Osaka.
No. 25 Diana Shnaider plays a PERFECT set 3 and knocks out the final American in the women's bracket, No. 19 Madison Keys 😲 pic.twitter.com/tyslpUvFY6
— TNT Sports U.S. (@TNTSportsUS) June 1, 2026
That kind of chaos should have opened the door for one of the other top American women to possibly follow Gauff's win last year with another victory in Paris. Instead, despite entering the tournament with seven seeded players, there isn't a single American flag left in the bracket as the quarterfinals arrive.
Jessica Pegula, fresh off two grand slam semifinal appearances, got bounced in the first round. Hailey Baptiste suffered a leg injury that forced her retirement in the second round. Frenchwoman Diane Parry knocked out both Ann Li and Amanda Anisimova in succession, while Iva Jovic joined Gauff and Anismimova in a third-round exit. That left Keys as the last hope, but she caught the service struggle bug that plagued a number of Americans over the past week at the worst time and will join them at home watching what has turned into one of the most wide open draws in recent memory.
Aside from Sabalenka and Osaka, no one else remaining in the women's draw has a grand slam title to their name -- or even a grand slam final appearance. That means someone is going to post a career-best finish this week, and we could very well crown a first-time grand slam champion. Unfortunately for the large American contingent that arrived in Paris just over a week ago, none of them will be the ones to capitalize on the opportunity.
