French wild-card entry Loïs Boisson upset sixth-ranked Mirra Andreeva 7-6 (6), 6-3 on Wednesday in front of a boisterous and largely partisan crowd at Roland Garros to reach the semifinals of the French Open.
Andreeva repeatedly showed her frustration with the crowd, as excited fans chanted “Lois, Lois” between points, waved tricolor flags, shouted during play and even applauded the Russian teenager’s errors.
“It’s incredible. Thank you for supporting me like this. I have no words,” Boisson told the home crowd. “I ran a bit too much because I was so tense early on, 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.”
A year ago, Boisson tore the ACL in her left knee just a week before her home Grand Slam tournament started, preventing her from accepting an invitation to play. On Thursday, she will have the chance to advance to the final.
“It’s incredible, no matter what, given what happened last year and all the difficult moments I went through,” Boisson said during her postmatch interview.
Boisson, 22, became the first woman to reach the semifinals at her debut Grand Slam tournament since Jennifer Capriati at the 1990 French Open. Boisson is also the first women’s wild card to reach the French Open semifinals in the Open era (since 1968).
She is the youngest French semifinalist at a Grand Slam since Amelie Mauresmo at Wimbledon in 1999. The last Frenchwoman to win the title at Roland Garros was Mary Pierce, 25 years ago.
Boisson will face No. 3 Coco Gauff in the semifinals after the American star overcame sloppy play and dropping the first set to beat Madison Keys 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-1.
The first set was marked by momentum swings and brilliant shotmaking from both players. Boisson twice found herself down a break but fought back each time, using heavy spin and deep groundstrokes to trouble her Russian opponent.
Andreeva grew visibly tense on key points, struggling to maintain her composure and wasting a chance to close out the set when up 5-3. Despite saving three set points and forcing a tiebreaker, she ultimately handed the set to Boisson with two consecutive backhand errors.
In the second set, Andreeva responded strongly and raced to a 3-0 lead. But Boisson broke back with a thunderous backhand winner down the line, drawing a roar of approval from the lively crowd.
Andreeva received a warning after netting a routine forehand volley and angrily hitting a ball into the stands. She then argued with the umpire over a call that gave Boisson a break point. On the next point, Andreeva double-faulted and never recovered.
“The first set was super intense and I was really struggling at the start of the second, but I managed to regroup and finish like that,” Boisson said.
At No. 361 in the WTA rankings, Boisson is the third-lowest-ranked woman to reach the semifinals at a major in the past 30 years. Kim Clijsters (2009 US Open) and Justin Henin (2010 Australian Open) were both unranked for their runs.
Having reached a career high of No. 152 last year before her knee injury, Boisson will climb at least to No. 68 on Monday. And that could be even higher if she manages to pull off a third straight shocker against Gauff.
An unseeded player has reached the French Open final twice in the past four years: eventual champion Barbora Krejcikova in 2021 and Karolina Muchova in 2023.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
