Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe become first American men since Andre Agassi to reach French Open quarterfinals

By Jamie Barton, Issy Ronald and Kevin Dotson, CNN

(CNN) — Tommy Paul became the first American man since Andre Agassi in 2003 to reach the quarterfinals of the French Open after he beat Alexei Popyrin 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 on Sunday.

A short time later, he was joined by countryman Frances Tiafoe, who dispatched Daniel Altmaier 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (4) on the clay at Roland Garros.

American tennis fans were deprived of a trio of US men in the tournament’s final eight after Ben Shelton was bounced by the No. 2 seed and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz.

The 28-year-old Paul got off to a shaky start when his serve was broken in the very first game against the Australian Popyrin, but he recovered well, breaking back instantly before breaking again later in the set to take a 5-3 lead.

Popyrin had the perfect chance to get back on track straight away when he went 0-40 up in the next game, only for Paul to win three points in a row, and then take the set at the third time of asking.

“You’ve kind of got to tell yourself, you’re still supposed to hold,” Paul said on court after the match. “Even if you’re down 0-40, you can come back and hold your advantage every single one of those points.

From that point onward, Paul had too much for Popyrin, breaking him twice in the second set and once in the third to round out an ultimately comfortable victory. After each of his last two matches – against Karen Khachanov and Márton Fucsovics – went to five sets, Paul was pleased he would be able to get some rest.

“Feeling pretty good,” he said. “Obviously, it helps a lot when you play in under two hours, in a three-out-of-five set match. You like to start the tournament like that, getting a couple of straight-sets wins, but to get one today was special for me.”

Later on Sunday, Tiafoe followed Paul’s lead with a straight-sets win of his own to punch his ticket into the quarterfinals.

Tiafoe coasted through the first two sets before running into some adversity in the third at the hands of Altmaier. The German twice broke the serve of the 27-year-old Maryland native to take a commanding 5-2 lead.

But Tiafoe refused to quietly move on to a fourth set and instead battled back to square the set at 5-5. After each player subsequently held serve to make it 6-6, Tiafoe prevailed 7-4 in the tiebreak.

Next up, Paul has drawn the unenviable task of facing Alcaraz in the quarterfinals while Tiafoe awaits the winner of Sunday’s match between Lorenzo Musetti and Holger Rune.

No American man has progressed beyond the quarterfinals at Roland Garros since Agassi lifted the Coupe des Mousquetaires in 1999.

Coco Gauff reaches fourth round

There was more American success on Saturday, this time in the women’s draw, as Coco Gauff defeated Marie Bouzková 6-1, 7-6 (3) to advance to the fourth round.

Her match against Ekaterina Alexandrova will be her seventh consecutive fourth-round match at a grand slam, making her the youngest American woman to reach this milestone since Venus Williams in 1999.

Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic recorded his 99th win at Roland Garros as he coasted to a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory over qualifier Filip Misolic Saturday night in Paris.

The 24-time grand slam winner was utterly dominant throughout, facing just one break point all game.

Like Djokovic, world No. 1 Jannik Sinner cruised through his third round match too, taking just 94 minutes to defeat Jiří Lehečka 6-0, 6-1, 6-2.

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