Paris, June 1 (EFE).— Tommy Paul cruised past Alexei Popyrin, Elina Svitolina staged a stunning comeback, and Qinwen Zheng broke new ground, as all three booked spots in the Roland Garros quarterfinals on a thrilling day at the French Open on Sunday.
American Paul became the first man to reach the Roland Garros quarterfinals this year, while Ukraine’s Svitolina staged a dramatic comeback and China’s Zheng advanced to her first French Open quarterfinal.
Paul, seeded 12th, crushed Australia’s Alexei Popyrin 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 in under two hours to reach the last eight in Paris for the first time.
The 28-year-old becomes the ninth American to reach the quarterfinals on all three Grand Slam surfaces, ing legends like Andre Agassi, Michael Chang, Jimmy Connors, and Pete Sampras, and the only one still active.
The match, a clash between two former Roland Garros junior champions (Paul in 2015, Popyrin in 2017), was one-sided.
Paul, who had endured five-set battles in his previous two rounds, looked sharper and more composed against a struggling Popyrin, who had never advanced past the first round in Paris before this year.
Paul will face either defending champion Carlos Alcaraz of Spain or fellow American Ben Shelton in the quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, in the women’s draw, Svitolina saved three match points to knock out Italian Jasmine Paolini, last year’s finalist, in a gripping 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-1 victory.
Down a set and facing defeat at 5-4 and again in the second-set tiebreak, the 30-year-old Ukrainian found her rhythm and stormed back, dominating the decider.
This is Svitolina’s fifth quarterfinal appearance at Roland Garros and her 13th at a Grand Slam overall.
She will next face the winner of the clash between world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, who beat her in last year’s quarterfinal, and 12th-seeded Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan.
Paolini, fresh off her Rome title, was once again undone by Svitolina, who also defeated her at the Australian Open earlier this year. The Italian is coached by Spain’s Marc López.
In another women’s encounter, seventh-ranked Zheng battled past Russia’s Liudmila Samsonova 7-6(5), 1-6, 6-3 to reach the French Open quarterfinals for the first time.
The Olympic champion, who won her medal on these very courts last summer, recovered from a second-set slump to close out the match strongly.
Zheng will face the winner of the duel between Belarusian world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and American Amanda Anisimova, the 16th seed, for a spot in the semifinals. EFE
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