Sebastian Korda celebrates after winning match point at the 2020 French Open on Sept. 30, 2020 in Paris.
Out of the eight U.S. men who had advanced to the second round of the 2020 French Open, only Sebastian Korda is still standing.
The 20-year-old continued the best Grand Slam performance of his young career Friday at Roland Garros in beating Pedro Martinez of Spain, 6-4, 6-3, 6-1. Both men came out of the qualifying round, with Korda upsetting fellow American John Isner in the second round to set up the match with Martinez. Korda was mostly dominant, serving eight aces to Martinez’s none, and had 48 winners to 20 for Martinez. Not even a rain delay could throw Korda off his game.
Korda becomes the youngest U.S. man to reach the fourth round of the French Open since Michael Chang did it in 1991. Korda is also the first player born in the 2000s to make it to the tournament’s second week. Playing in just his second French Open, and his first one making it out of qualifying, Korda is ahead of the pace of his father Petr, who represented the Czech Republic. Petr Korda didn’t make it that far until his fourth try at Roland Garros when he made the final in 1992. Sebastian also made it farther than his mother Regina Rajchrtova, who only made it as far as the third round in 1991.
The only other U.S. man playing Friday was Taylor Fritz, who battled hard in forcing two tiebreakers but lost in straight sets to Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego. On the women’s side, No. 25 Amanda Anisimova fell to No. 1 Simona Halep in straight sets. No. 4 Sofia Kenin and Danielle Collins have their third-round matches on Saturday.