North Carolina native Tommy Paul (pictured above) was the only Southern playing in the second week of the French Open.
Paul and Nicholas Monroe, of Austin, TX, played on the second Tuesday but ran into the ninth-seeds. Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic came away with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over the Americans.
Paul/Monroe won an exciting third round match over Pablo Cuevas/Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(7). They advanced to the third round win a second-round victory of the fourth seeds Lukasz Kubot/Marcelo Melo.
Hayley Carter and Luisa Stefani were stymied in the third found, losing to the seventh-seeded Japanese Shuko Aoyama/Ena Shibahara. The Americans advanced to the third round with a 6-2, 6-2 victory of Miyu Kato/Tamara Zidansek. Carter/Stafani are the 10th seeds after winning the Top Seed Open in Lexington, KY, and reaching the Strasbourg final this year. Carter is a Tennessee native.
Southern singles players had a rough first week at Roland-Garros. John Isner lost to Sebastian Korda in four sets in the first round. Former Atlanta resident Cori “Coco” Gauff had a big win over Brit Joanna Konta in the first round but lost to Martina Trevisan in the second. Gallatin, TN’s Tennys Sandgren lost in second round to Daniel Elahi Galan. Paul was downed by Casper Ruud in a five-set, first-round match. Charleston, SC’s Shelby Rogers lost to qualifier Kamilla Rakhimova in the first round. Alison Riske, of Nashville, TN, was defeated by Julia Goreges in three sets in the opening round.
In other doubles action, Gauff and Catherine McNally fell to Americans Asia Muhammad and Jessica Pegula in the third round. Riske and Ajla Tomljanovic lost to the sixth-seeded Kveta Peschke/Demi Schuurs in the second round. Rogers and Cornelia Lister lost in the second round to Aoyama/Shibahara. Sandgren/Mackenzie McDonald were downed in the first round by Marton Fucsovics/Cameron Norrie.