It hasn’t been easy, but Tommy Paul is still in the French Open. The American overcame yet another grueling match Friday in a narrow win over Karen Khachanov in the third round.
Paul had previously gotten off to slow starts throughout the event, but that wasn’t the case Friday. After dropping the first set in his previous two matches, Paul came out strong this time around, beating Khachanov 6-3 to pick up an early lead. While it was a promising start for Paul, it wouldn’t last, Khachanov battled back in the second set, taking it 6-3 to even the score.
The third set proved to be exhausting. Both men battled back and forth, eventually forcing a tiebreak. It took Paul nine points, but he won that tiebreak, taking the third set.
With Paul one set away from closing it out, Khachanov fought his back once again, winning 6-3 and forcing a fifth set.
Paul finally seemed to find his stride, going up 4-0 to open the final set. Some cracks started to show at that point, and Khachanov threatened to get back into it, but Paul eventually closed it out, winning the final set 6-3 and taking the match.
The win marked the second straight match in which Paul has gone the distance against what was supposed to be a lesser opponent. Paul needed five sets to take down Marton Fucsovics in the second round of the event. Fucsovics came into the 2025 French Open as the No. 125 men’s player. Khachanov entered the event ranked No. 24, and was clearly a step up in quality for Paul.
Paul entered the 2025 French Open as the second-highest ranked American men’s player, behind Taylor Fritz, who was surprisingly eliminated in the first round.
That left Paul as the top American men’s player remaining in the competition. While he’s had a harder time than expected, Paul kept the United States’ hopes alive with a narrow win over Khachanov on Friday.
With the victory, Paul will take on Australian Alexei Popyrin in the fourth round Sunday. Popyrin entered the event ranked No. 25 among the men, and should provide yet another tough challenge as Paul looks to advance to the quarterfinals at the French Open for the second time in his career.
