French Open 2025: Tommy Paul, Frances Tiafoe become first American men to reach quarterfinals since 2003

Yahoo

2 days ago

Tommy Paul became the first American men's tennis player to advance to the French Open quarterfinals in 22 years with a straight-set victory over Alexei Popyrin, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.
The No. 12 seed needed five sets to defeat Márton Fucsovics in the second round and Karen Khachanov in the third. Meanwhile, Popyrin, No. 25 in the draw, hadn't lost a set in his first three matches of this tournament. So a relatively easy fourth-round win for Paul was a surprise.
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Popyrin took an early advantage, breaking Paul's serve to win the first game. However, Paul quickly shook off that slow start to recover and take control of the match with a 5-3 lead. Popyrin looked as if he might rally after taking an 0-40 lead in the next game. But Paul bounced back to win the next three points, getting to nearly every return and landing difficult shots to win that first set.
The Australian also helped Paul get through the three sets rather quickly by beating himself, committing 37 unforced errors during the match. At several points, Popyrin turned to his coaches box to look for answers. Or to vent frustration at his mistakes.
Following the match, Paul expressed relief over not having to play a third consecutive five-set match, beating Popyrin in less than two hours. (His previous three matches lasted a total of nearly 11 hours.)
"I am very happy to get a straight sets win," he said, via USA Today. "I have been playing some very long matches so that felt really good. Shorter matches like this help a lot."
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The last American men's player to get past the fourth round at Roland-Garros was Andre Agassi in 2003, who entered the round of 16 by defeating Flávio Saretta. In the quarterfinals, Agassi lost to Guillermo Coria in four sets.
Paul will face Carlos Alcaraz, who defeated fellow American Ben Shelton in the quarterfinals on Tuesday. Yet if Frances Tiafoe wins his match versus Daniel Altmaier, the U.S. could have multiple players in the quarters for the first time since Jim Courier and Pete Sampras did so in 1996.
Frances Tiafoe gets to quarters without losing a set
Frances Tiafoe has not lost a set during his four matches en route to the 2025 French Open quarterfinals. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Frances Tiafoe will join Paul in the quarterfinals, defeating Daniel Altmaier in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6. That puts two American players in the French Open's round of 16 for the first time since Jim Courier and Pete Sampras did so (and played each other) in 1996.
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Tiafoe has not lost a set in his four matches at Roland-Garros thus far. On his way to the quarters, he defeated Roman Safiullin, Pablo Carreño Busta and fellow American Sebastian Korda before meeting Altmaier in the fourth round.
Though it was a straight-set victory for the No. 15 seed, Altmaier didn't go down easily. He took a 5-2 lead in the third set, but mistakes allowed Tiafoe to take it to a tiebreaker. One such error occurred when Altmaier returned a forehand right at Tiafoe, rather than angle it toward the open part of the court.
In his post-match interview, Tiafoe acknowledged that Altmaier had him running all over the court, which isn't the way he prefers to play. But he was also rightly pleased at how well he's played.
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"Third set he started getting a lot of balls in high, felt like boys' under-12s out here," he said, via The Athletic. "Happy to get through, very tough, won every match in straights and only played one set that wasn't clean. Pretty impressive for me."
Tiafoe will play the winner between No. 8 Lorenzo Musetti and No. 10 Holger Rune on Tuesday. If he wins that match, either Alcaraz or an All-American match with Paul is up next.