Francis Tiafoe’s thrilling marathon victory, Jannik Sinner’s shocking loss ON CENTER COURT — Six American men will get a third-round chance at the French Open at Roland Garros.
An American hasn’t won a men’s singles Grand Slam in 23 years, but Tiafoe, Lerner Tien and Tommy Paul are among the seeded players in the United States who have a puncher’s chance in a wide open field. Fifth-seeded Ben Shelton struggled against Belgium’s Raphael Collignon, joining Taylor Fritz as the top Americans to lose by the end of the week.
Shelton was the highest rated of the remaining American players, and his odds of winning increased significantly after the sinner after Collignon gave it his all in straight sets on Thursday. He is the fifth top-10 male seed to lose this week and the most through two rounds in Paris since 2004.
The 18th-seeded Tien, whose best result in a major was reaching the quarterfinals at this year’s Australian Open, held off two match points against Facundo Diaz Acosta to win in five sets. The 20-year-old won his first tour-level title on European clay at the Gone Genève Open and is 17-9 on the year.
A master point constructor, Tien’s game translates well on clay, and he seems patient during long, intense shot rallies. Tien will take on the lessons learned from his well-timed loss to Alexander Zverev in the first round of last year’s French Open, and will next face No. 10 seed Flavio Coboli.
In Wednesday’s matches, 23-year-old Zachary Svaida defeated Australia’s Adam Walton in four sets, while Paul took on Lorenzo Sonego in straight sets and Alex Michaelson defeated fellow American Nishesh Vasavareddy 7-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. The sixth American, No. 31 seed Brandon Nakashima, took the fifth set against Luca Van Assche, winning 6-7, 6-4, 5-7, 6-1, 6-3.
Tiafoe gets honest about the rest of the field.
Tiafoe, the second-seeded No. 19 lefty, said his sole focus was keeping “pressure on the scoreboard” in Thursday’s 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 6-7, 6-4 win over Hubert Hurkas.
Tiafoe’s five-set victory, the ninth of his career, was extended beyond the four-hour mark and tested his endurance in the final game. The post-match celebration lasted a full minute and included bear hugs from fans in the front row, with one of them even picking up his racket.
Tiafoe took off his shirt, bent over, and went to the net to congratulate Harkas on his good play. Tiafoe told TNT Sports that he gave the fan who swung his racket an autographed pair of shoes in exchange for a good luck charm.
“I was going to do something crazy, but I had to realize that I was still in the third round,” Tiafoe said on set after the match. “There were a lot of emotions. I could have ended it an hour earlier and I was serving for that, but it was great to be able to do it against a great player.”
Tiafoe defeated Furkas’ 43 aces and 88 winners thanks to his consistency in groundstrokes. Tiafoe committed only 32 unforced errors to his opponent’s 59 and did not hit a single drop shot, emboldening Furkas to try to stay in longer rallies.
Like the other American players remaining in the draw, Tiafoe is taking things round by round despite the world’s top two players missing out.
“Only one person can win today, and that’s all I’m focused on,” Tiafoe said. “To be honest, I felt pressure before[to win]because Carlos wasn’t there. But at the same time, I want to say this is a big chance, but a lot of the players I lose to are not Alcaraz or Sinner. But for sure, this is a big chance and it was probably the best start to the year for me in a long time.”
Shelton resigns
It’s not just the left-handed missile he calls his serve that sets Shelton apart from most players on the ATP Tour. That’s the pressure he puts on his opponent from the beginning. He often plays with the controlled aggression that men’s tennis requires, blending elite athleticism with fearless shot-making that can instantly change the energy in a stadium.
However, in the match against Collignon, she made a series of unforced errors early on and was broken twice in the first set, and was unable to recover, losing 4-6, 5-7, 4-6. Shelton’s best Grand Slam results were reaching the semifinals of the 2023 U.S. Open and 2025 Australian Open, but he reached the fourth round at last year’s French Open and won two titles with an 18-8 record.
Collignon had eight passing shot winners to Shelton’s one after missing dozens of break point chances in the 1-hour, 46-minute matinee match.
Shelton is still growing, especially on the clay courts. His return game has improved and his movement has become cleaner, but the rapid growth shown on other surfaces didn’t materialize this week in Paris for the American, who many in the sport believe has the highest ceiling on tour.
American third round
- (10) Flavio Cobolli vs. (18) Learner Tien
- (19) Francis Tiafoe vs. Jaime Faria
- (15) Casper Roode vs. (24) Tommy Paul
- (25) Francisco Cerundro vs. Zachary Sweida
- (27) Rafael Jodal vs. alex michaelson
- (31) Brandon Nakashima vs. (4) Felix Auger-Aliassime
follow history
Andy Roddick was the last American player to win a Grand Slam singles title, defeating Juan Carlos Ferrero in straight sets at the 2003 US Open. From there, all-time greats such as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, who is chasing a record-extending 25th major title, rose to the occasion, with Alcaraz and Sinner collectively winning the past nine Grand Slams.
But the U.S. drought is worse than the Big Three and the two new giants that have sucked up all the oxygen. Many of America’s up-and-coming players have relied on brisk serves and forehands instead of developing the movement, creativity and point-building required on slower surfaces.
The development of clay courts has been slower than in Europe, where future stars are molded into faster, all-court tacticians, and where today’s great players dominate in every aspect on fast surfaces.
There’s also the reality of American sports culture. Elite male athletes in the United States are often drawn to football, basketball, or baseball long before tennis was introduced. Tennis remains the premier destination sport worldwide, but in America it competes for attention and talent.
Today, the gap feels closer than it has in years, but there is still a long way to go. Taylor Fritz, Shelton and Tiafoe, who lost in the opening round this week, have advanced to the majors and broken into the upper echelons of the sport. Talent is present again. The problem is that this generation is chasing future legends like Alcaraz and Sinner, the next global supernova pair waiting on center court.
