French Open: World No 361 Lois Boisson shocks Mirra Andreeva to set up semi-final with Coco Gauff | Tennis News

World No 361 Lois Boisson continued her French Open Cinderella story by stunning Mirra Andreeva to reach the semi-finals on debut.

The 22-year-old had already sent shockwaves around Roland-Garros by stunning American Pegula to make the quarter-finals and she continued her remarkable form by dumping out sixth seed Andreeva 7-6 (8-6) 6-3.

Boisson’s only real claim to fame prior to this year’s tournament was being the player Britain’s Harriet Dart complained to an umpire about, saying “tell her to wear deodorant”.

But she came up smelling of roses on Wednesday afternoon after a famous win in the French capital.

Lois Boisson’s remarkable French Open journey

Ranked 361 when she entered the tournament.

Guaranteed to be at least world No 61 when she exits this tournament.

First Frenchwoman to reach the French Open semi-finals since Bartoli in 2011 – and the first in the Open Era to do it as a wild card.

She is the third player to reach the semi-finals in her Grand Slam main-draw debut since 1980, following Monica Seles and Jennifer Capriati who also did it at the French Open in 1989 and 1990, respectively.

It was an emotional victory for Boisson, who was due to make her debut in Paris last year only to suffer a serious knee injury a fortnight before the tournament which kept her out of action for nine months.

Boisson was not even sure she would receive a wildcard, with her ranking having plunged so low.

She dropped to the clay with her hands over her eyes in emotional scenes before cupping her ear to the crowd on a packed, raucous Court Philippe-Chatrier.

“Its incredible. Thank you for supporting me like this. I have no words,” Boisson told a delirious home crowd that chanted her name and roared at every point.

“I ran a bit too much because I was so tense early on,” she admitted. “But I fought hard in that first set, which was so intense. At the start of the second, I felt a little empty, but I hung in there and finished the job.”

It was all too much for teenager Andreeva, who had two set points in the first but suffered a complete meltdown in the second.

She told the crowd to “shut up”, received a code violation for whacking a ball into the stands, burst into tears and forced her mother Raisa to leave her player’s box.

Boisson, who will be comfortably inside the top 100 after this fairy-tale run, trailed 3-1 and 5-3 in the first set – eventually saving two set points – to edge a tight tie-break, and kept cool as Andreeva unravelled from 3-0 ahead in the second to win the last six games.

Gauff scraps her way into semi-finals

US Coco Gauff celebrates after winning her women's singles quarter-final match against US Madison Keys on day 11 of the French Open tennis t
Image:
Coco Gauff celebrates defeating Madison Keys to reach the French Open semi-finals

Boisson will now take on Coco Gauff, who passed her biggest test so far as she scrapped her way past fellow American Madison Keys to reach the semi-finals.

A scruffy match featuring a combined 101 unforced errors and 14 breaks of serve ended 6-7 (6-8) 6-4 6-1 in favour of the world No 2.

“Maddie was playing well, she’s hitting the ball so fast and so low so I was just trying to fight for each point,” said Gauff, the runner-up at Roland Garros in 2022.

“I knew I had to be able to run today and as soon as the ball came short, punish her for it.

“It means a lot, getting through this tough match. I’m very happy to get through and be in the semi-finals again. I’ll savour this one today and be ready for tomorrow’s match.”

Gauff had previously not dropped a set as she quietly made her way through the friendlier side of the draw.

But in a nervy first set on both sides of the net, Gauff overturned a 4-1 deficit to force a set point at 5-4, only to be taken to a tie-break which Keys won.

Gauff went 4-1 up in the second but found herself pegged back, before a break and a hold took the match into a decider.

The confidence had drained from Australian Open champion Keys while Gauff finally located her serve, having coughed up nine double faults over the first two sets.

A pass down the line brought up three match points and the 21-year-old roared with delight when Keys went long, giving her the victory in two hours and 11 minutes.

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