<p>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.</p><p>"<strong>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,</strong>" ⁠Potapova told reporters when ‌asked whether her improved results were linked to the move.</p><p>"<strong>For sure ​it's given me extra boost of energy to fight for those wins.</strong>"</p><p>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.</p><p>This season she ​has established herself among the tour's most consistent performers on clay.</p><p>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.</p><p>Potapova pointed to a number of reasons when asked about how she has found such form.</p><p>"<strong>I've been here for 10 years on tour. This is the first time I managed to do this well and stay this consistent,</strong>" ‌she said.</p><p>"<strong>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.</strong></p><p>"<strong>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</strong>."</p>