Coco Gauff, Leylah Fernandez, Carlos Alcaraz, Holger Rune

Limited experience? Veteran opponents? The unlikeliest of odds? None of these were a problem for a group of teenagers who didn’t flinch with French Open quarterfinal bids on the line.

On Monday, Holger Rune pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the tournaments thus far with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over 2021 finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas. Rune had come to Paris having never won a match in a main draw at a major and is now two wins away from the Roland Garros final.

He joined Coco Gauff, Leylah Fernandez and Carlos Alcaraz — all of whom were victorious on Sunday – in taking the latest monumental step of their young careers. Qinwen Zheng looked poised to join them after taking the first set over world No. 1 Iga Swiatek in their match on Monday before an apparent right leg injury derailed her efforts.

Thanks to Rune and Alcaraz, the 2022 French Open is the first major since 1994 to have two teenage men playing in the quarterfinals. It seems clear the future has very much arrived in tennis — and perhaps nothing illustrates that more than this foursome. So, how did they get here and what stands in their way of reaching the semifinals? Let’s review.

Holger Rune

Rune made his Grand Slam debut at the 2021 US Open, after coming through qualifying, and won over the crowd and tennis fans everywhere with a gutsy, fearless performance in a four-set loss to world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the night match on Arthur Ashe. Even Djokovic was impressed by what he saw.

“I’m sure we’re going to see a lot of him in the future,” he said about Rune after the match.

And that we have, especially during the clay season. Rune won the first ATP title of his career in Munich in April and reached the semifinals in Lyon. That momentum has been on full display in Paris. He opened play with a stunning 6-3, 6-1, 7-6 (4) victory against No. 14 seed Denis Shapovalov — and hasn’t looked back. His match against Tsitsipas marked his first dropped set of the tournament.

He started the year ranked…