Frances Tiafoe joins Tommy Paul in reaching quarterfinals of Roland Garros for first time

It was already a big day for American tennis on Sunday, as Tommy Paul became the first U.S. man to reach the quarterfinals of Roland Garros in 22 years, since Andre Agassi in 2003.

But at night, things got even better.

With a straight-set victory over Germany’s Daniel Altmaier that concluded under the lights, Frances Tiafoe also reached the quarterfinals—and with that, there are now two American men into the quarterfinals of Roland Garros for the first time in 29 years.

The last time this happened was in 1996, when Pete Sampras and Jim Courier both made the last eight. They actually played each other in that round—Sampras would come back from two-sets-to-love down to beat Courier, 6-7 (4), 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, before falling to eventual champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov in the semifinals.

Neither Paul nor Tiafoe was even born when that happened—they were born in 1997 and 1998, respectively.

Paul was the first of the pair to advance to the quarterfinals, with a comprehensive 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Alexei Popyrin—a stark contrast to his last two rounds, where he battled to five-set wins against Marton Fucsovics in the second round, 4-6, 2-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4, and Karen Khachanov in the third round, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7), 3-6, 6-3.

He had also been pushed to four sets in his first-round match.

By contrast, Tiafoe hasn't lost a set all tournament, including in his 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (4) fourth-round win over Altmaier—the player who had taken out the top American man, Taylor Fritz, in the first round.

"It was a great match," Tiafoe told Alex Corretja in his on-court interview. "First two sets I played great. Third set he started to get a lot of balls in, high, and it felt like boys' under 12s out here.

"But I'm happy to get through. I won in straights, but to play only one set that wasn't really clean is very impressive for me."

Unlike Sampras and Courier in 1996, Paul and Tiafoe will not have to face each other in the quarterfinals—semifinals, maybe.

The No. 12-seeded Paul will take on the No. 2 seed and defending champion, Carlos Alcaraz, who recorded the 100th clay-court win of his career on Sunday against another American, Ben Shelton.

The No. 15-seeded Tiafoe will face either No. 8 seed Lorenzo Musetti or No. 10 seed Holger Rune, who played each other in the feature night match on Court Philippe Chatrier on Sunday.

Should Paul and Tiafoe both win their quarterfinals on Tuesday, they would play each other in an all-American semifinal on Friday.