French Open 2025 Day Eight Recap – Perfect Tennis

The second Sunday of Roland Garros 2025 delivered another batch of high-quality matches, as the men’s singles draw narrowed to its final eight.

Lorenzo Musetti continued his strong clay form with a composed win over Holger Rune under the lights, Carlos Alcaraz notched his 100th tour-level clay victory in a thrilling four-set battle against Ben Shelton, and Tommy Paul enjoyed a rare straight-sets win after two gruelling five-setters earlier in the tournament.

Frances Tiafoe also advanced with a clinical performance over Daniel Altmaier, setting up a quarter-final clash with Musetti.

Here’s a look at how the day unfolded on the terre battue of Paris.

Day Eight French Open 2025 Round of 16 Results

Winner
Loser
Scoreline

Lorenzo Musetti (8)
Holger Rune (10)
7-5 3-6 6-3 6-2

Frances Tiafoe (15)
Daniel Altmaier
6-3 6-4 7-6(4)

Tommy Paul (12)
Alexei Popyrin (25)
6-3 6-3 6-3

Ben Shelton (13)
Carlos Alcaraz (2)
6-3, 4-6, 6-4

Tommy Paul (12) def Alexei Popyrin (35) 6-3 6-3 6-3

Tommy Paul reached the Roland Garros quarter-finals for the first time on Sunday. The American had secured hard-fought five-set victories over Marton Fucsovics and Karen Khachanov earlier in the week but cruised past Alexei Popyrin, who hadn’t dropped a set, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 in just 1 hour and 52 minutes.

I think Alcaraz and Musetti have played the best tennis during the clay swing, but Paul isn’t far behind, and I like the style of tennis he’s producing.

Today, he saved 9 of 10 break points, hit 27 winners to Popyrin’s 18, and showed no signs of fatigue after his battle with Khachanov a couple of days ago.

I’m enjoying it a lot. It was nice to get a straight-sets win today, give the body a little rest. I mean, as much as I love the five-setters, I definitely like the three-setters a little bit better. I am just excited for more matches. Paul on playing on clay.

Carlos Alcaraz (2) def Ben Shelton (13) 7-6(8), 6-3, 4-6, 6-4

Carlos Alcaraz secured his 100th tour-level clay-court victory by defeating Ben Shelton 7-6(8), 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, in three hours and 19 minutes on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

With two explosive shotmakers on court, the match naturally featured lots of dynamic shot-making and some decent net play.

Alcaraz saved three set points in the first-set tie-break, sealing it with a whipped forehand. He controlled the second set with quick hands, redirecting Shelton’s powerful shots.

Shelton fought back to win the third set, but Alcaraz regained momentum in the fourth to advance to his fourth straight Roland Garros quarter-final.

I thought Alcaraz played a balanced match with no mid-match walkabouts, and Shelton’s aggressive groundstrokes tested him. The Spaniard did a decent job of staying present and he took advantage of the American having a few lapses in his service games to secure the win.

Today I fought against myself, against the mind. I just tried to calm myself. In some moments I was mad, I was angry with myself. Talking not really good things but I am really happy to not let those thoughts play against me. I tried to calm myself down and I tried to keep going. That is what I tried. We have huge respect for each other. Every time we face each other, we [bring] the top level. We played really good tennis and entertained the fans. He is a really powerful player, he can make any shot. I think we played really great tennis. Coming to the net, drop shots, forehands. For me it is great having Ben around. I think it is great energy for the people and I love watching Ben play. Alcaraz on his win.

Lorenzo Musetti (8) def Holger Rune (10) 7-5 3-6 6-3 6-2

Lorenzo Musetti continued his dazzling clay-court season with a well-earned 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 over Holger Rune in 3 hours and 20 minutes.

The pair didn’t make it onto court until well after dark due to two lengthy matches earlier in the day, but it was Musetti who illuminated the court with a classy display of clay-court tennis, and his court craft was too much for Rune to handle.

I thought Musetti did an excellent job in defence, some of his lobs were Murray-esque, and he stole several points by forcing Rune to hit one more ball.

That caused Rune to rack up the unforced errors, 55 in total, and Musetti was too solid, committing very few mistakes and having an answer to pretty much everything Rune offered.

The Italian will face Frances Tiafoe in the next round after the fifteenth seed took out Daniel Altmaier in straight sets. 

French Open 2025 Day Nine Round of 16 Matches