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.
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.
Tommy Paul is into the quarter-final for the first time! 🙌
— TNT Sports (@tntsports) June 1, 2025
🇺🇸 The American defeats Alexei Popyrin in straight sets to set up a last eight battle with either Carlos Alcaraz or Ben Shelton!#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/KYB7UgPAB8
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, <a data-i13n="cpos:2;pos:1" href="https://apnews.com/article/french-open-tommy-paul-428e8e34384bd64adfc1201bc45866ca">via USA Today</a>. "I have been playing some very long matches so that felt really good. Shorter matches like this help a lot."
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 the winner between fellow American Ben Shelton and Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals on Tuesday. If Shelton were to win and Frances Tiafoe excels later in Day 8, the U.S. could have multiple players in the quarters for the first time since Jim Courier and Pete Sampras did so in 1996.
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