{"id":84543,"date":"2025-05-30T18:59:56","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T22:59:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=84543"},"modified":"2025-05-30T18:59:56","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T22:59:56","slug":"french-open-day-6-mens-recap-higher-seeds-shine-khachanov-paul-epic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/05\/30\/french-open-day-6-mens-recap-higher-seeds-shine-khachanov-paul-epic\/","title":{"rendered":"French Open Day 6 Men&#8217;s Recap: Higher Seeds Shine, Paul-Khachanov Epic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Eight third-round matches took place on Day 6 of the 2025 French Open, and unlike the previous days, the drama was less. There were no upsets, and all the seeded players secured the victory, but it was not straightforward for a couple of top players. Here\u2019s a recap of the big storylines from the men\u2019s singles action.<\/p>\n<h2>French Open Day 6 Men&#8217;s Recap<\/h2>\n<h3>Who Looked Good<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Ben Shelton <\/strong>received a walkover in the second round and got some extra rest, which showed in his performance against Matteo Gigante, who had <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/05\/29\/stefanos-tsitsipas-upset-french-open\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">upset Stefanos Tsitsipas<\/a> in his previous match. Shelton defeated Gigante, 6-3 6-3 6-4, and was broken just once in the entire match. The American completes the series of advancing to the second week of every Grand Slam by making it to the fourth round for the first time here. When he&#8217;s serving well, he&#8217;s a nightmare to play against, and his game is getting better on clay with experience.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Alexei Popyrin<\/strong><span style=\"margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>has said multiple times in the past that he is one of the few players from Australia who enjoys playing on clay, but he hasn&#8217;t had<\/span> the results to show for it. That has changed this week as he is in the fourth round of the French Open for the first time as he defeated Portugal&#8217;s Nuno Borges, 6-4 7-6 (13-11) 7-6 (7-5). This was a big win for Popyrin against a player who was coming off a huge win.<\/p>\n<p>Popyrin had numerous chances to win the second and third sets earlier, but he was so strong that he continued to create opportunities and won the match. The lengthy second-set tiebreaker was crucial for the Australian, and winning it helped boost his confidence for the third-set tiebreak. He&#8217;s a streaky player, serving well, and when he gets into this kind of rhythm, it&#8217;s hard to stop him.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Frances Tiafoe&#8217;s\u00a0<\/strong>10th main draw appearance at the French Open is proving to be special as he has found a purple patch out of nowhere and is playing some of the best tennis of his life on clay. He defeated compatriot Sebastian Korda, 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 6-4 and did not concede his serve all match. The American won 73% of his second-serve points, which demonstrates how well he varied his serve. This was Tiafoe&#8217;s first top 30 win on clay in three years, and he has a good draw to advance even further here.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"QmBAsAJWRf96-ByMr1pz7A\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2217862750\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'QmBAsAJWRf96-ByMr1pz7A',sig:'gD9ZvPYYIP8wc1OwGXigXOfU9wIFrj-d83SpF8CmXtY=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2217862750',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Who Looked Bad<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Hamad Medjedovic <\/strong>lost against Daniel Altmaier, 6-4 3-6 3-6 2-6 and would be disappointed by his efforts. The Serb was the favourite to win the match and reach the fourth round. After making a solid start in the match, winning the first set on the back of his offensive tennis, he collapsed and started spraying errors left, right, and center. He lost the following three sets without creating a single break opportunity. Medjedovic let Altmaier hit 18 aces in the match, which is a lot for someone not known for his serve.<\/p>\n<p>Medjedovic looked gassed, kneeling often and not moving great. Maybe that was partially the reason for his dip in level. But at the end of the day, it was an opportunity missed by Medjedovic to make the second week of a Slam. He had the draw to make it happen, but couldn&#8217;t bring his best tennis.<\/p>\n<p>No. 10 seed <strong>Holger Rune<\/strong> lost his focus many times against Quentin Halys in the third round and narrowly escaped an upset. He started the match flat and gave the break away cheaply in the first set. Then, he had the opportunity to take a two sets to one lead but failed to serve out the third set. He gave a chance to the Frenchman, and he accepted it with both hands. Rune finally woke up from the fourth set onwards, played with more urgency and purpose, and won the match 4-6 6-2 5-7 7-5 6-2. The Danish player survived a scare and must do a better job mentally in the fourth round.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"P8ctGUTQRhxBbCAXdy1aUg\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2217065693\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'P8ctGUTQRhxBbCAXdy1aUg',sig:'eoD6-oANCKNVx-xYG5lRxMEMaRbAlNhgngvYVdS45aU=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2217065693',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Match of the Day<\/h3>\n<p>Tommy Paul and Karen Khachanov put up a show on Court Simonne-Mathieu and entertained the fans for over four hours. Paul won this gruelling encounter 6-3 3-6 7-6 (9-7) 3-6 6-3 and showed once again why he is one of the fittest players on the tour. He advances to the fourth round for the first time in his career at the clay Slam. Paul&#8217;s effort has been commendable in the last two matches against tough opponents. Karen Khachanov played a great match after the first set and had a big part in making this match so good.<\/p>\n<p>After a strong start from Paul, Khachanov came back roaring and started hitting his spots on serve, and took the attack to the American. He won the second set and shifted the momentum on his side. The third set was a marathon and proved to be pivotal in the end. The set lasted over 70 minutes and featured numerous high-quality points. Paul won the set in the tiebreak after saving two set points. Khachanov got down an early break in the fourth but managed to turn it around and won the set.<\/p>\n<p>However, the efforts he put in the third and fourth set took their toll, and Paul raced to a 4-0 lead in the fifth set. Even though he was cramping, Paul hit himself out of trouble and held firm against Khachanov&#8217;s efforts. The American is nursing a lower abdominal injury, and despite that, he has willed himself to perform well in the last two matches and has shown amazing mental fortitude.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane &#8211; Imagn Images<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eight third-round matches took place on Day 6 of the 2025 French Open, and unlike the previous days, the drama was less. There were no upsets, and all the seeded players secured the victory, but it was not straightforward for a couple of top players. Here\u2019s a recap of the big storylines from the men\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5086,"featured_media":84315,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3],"tags":[42933,3970,259,16662,7453,348,204,15859,7605,844,18612,15250,390,8147,1635],"class_list":["post-84543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-french-open","category-atp","tag-2025-french-open","tag-alexei-popyrin","tag-atp-tour","tag-ben-shelton","tag-daniel-altmaier","tag-frances-tiafoe","tag-french-open","tag-hamad-medjedovic","tag-holger-rune","tag-karen-khachanov","tag-matteo-gigante","tag-nuno-borges","tag-quentin-halys","tag-sebastian-korda","tag-tommy-paul"],"modified_by":"Shane Black","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5086"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84543"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84573,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84543\/revisions\/84573"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}