Stephens, Keys hit milestones by making French Open quarters

Americans Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys both hit a career milestone on Sunday, reaching the quarterfinals of the French Open at Roland Garros — giving both an appearance in the final eight of all four majors.

The 10th-seeded Stephens, who won the U.S. Open in 2017, beat No. 25 seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia 6-2, 6-0 in a match that lasted just 52 minutes in Paris.

“I think that’s pretty cool,” Stephens said, via the Tennis Channel. “A lot of girls dream of making quarters or semis, and now that I’ve done that at all four Slams that’s pretty awesome. That was definitely a goal, and I’m glad to finally make it through to the quarterfinals here.”

Stephens will next face either No. 2 seed Caroline Wozniacki or No. 14 seed Daria Kasatkina, whose match in the nightcap was suspended due to darkness with Kasatkina leading 7-6 (5), 3-3. Both players asked to stop for the night but were initially told to continue, although officials ended play 15 minutes later.

The 13th-seeded Keys also put on a strong performance in a 6-1, 6-4 win over No. 31 seed Mihaela Buzarnescu of Romania.

“It’s awesome – I mean, I can’t really think of another word,” said Keys afterward. “This was always the one where it was the most difficult for me, and it was always the toughest one to feel like I could play well here. So to be able to get to the quarterfinals really means a lot.”

Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Angelique Kerber, Petra Kvitova, Francesca Schiavone, Simona Halep, Vera Zvonareva, Dominika Cibulkova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova are the only other active players to have reached all four quarterfinals, according to the WTA.

Unseeded Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan is next up for Keys after knocking off 26th-seeded Czech Barbora Strycova 6-4, 6-3.

–Field Level Media