Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys to Play First

All-American French Open Semifinal in 16 years

US Open Champion Stephens to Become New Top-Ranked American

Americans Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys will meet in the French Open women’s singles semifinals on Thursday in Paris, the first all-American French Open semifinal since 2002, when Serena Williams beat defending champion Jennifer Capriati to win the first of her four consecutive major singles titles.

Stephens, seeded 10th at Roland Garros, defeated 14th-seeded Russian Daria Kasatkina, 6-3, 6-1, in Tuesday’s quarterfinals, hours after the 13th-seeded Keys beat unseeded Yulia Putintseva, of Kazakhstan, 7-6(5), 6-4.

The quarterfinal wins came with superlatives for each player:

• Stephens, 25, will now become the No. 1 American in the WTA rankings on Monday. Since January 29, 2007, only three women — Serena and Venus Williams and Bethanie Mattek-Sands — have held the American No. 1 WTA ranking. Either Serena (519 weeks) or Venus (67 weeks) have held the top American ranking for 586 of the last 592 weeks. 
• Keys, at 23 years, 113 days old, became the youngest American to reach the French Open semifinals since Serena in 2003 (21 years, 255 days).

Stephens has won both of her and Keys’ two professional meetings, the last time coming in the 2017 US Open singles championship in September.

“We are both playing well in the semis of a Grand Slam, said Keys to media in Paris. Obviously it’s just another opportunity. It’s great for American tennis. To have two Americans in the semifinals of the French Open, I think, is pretty incredible. That means one American will be in the final of a French Open, which is another amazing thing. All in all, I don’t think anyone can complain.”

(The US Open final) “It was a big moment for both of us, and I think there were a lot of emotions and a lot of different things that happened, and I can say I remember the most important moments,” Stephens said.

Stephens, a native of Plantation, Fla., is currently coached by Kamau Murray. Keys, a native of Rock Island, Ill., currently lives in Orlando and trains at the USTA National Campus. Keys is being coached by Lindsay Davenport during the French Open.