World number 361 Lois Boisson continued her fairytale run at the French Open with a straight-set quarter-final victory over sixth seed Mirra Andreeva.
Boisson, who entered the draw as a wildcard, has now beaten three seeds en route to the semi-finals following her 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 triumph on a packed Court Philippe Chatrier.
The Frenchwoman, appearing in her first Grand Slam main draw, was set to be a wildcard at Roland Garros last year but had to pull out after tearing an anterior cruciate ligament in her knee just a week before the French Open was due to begin.
But 12 months on, she becomes the first player in the Open era to reach the women’s singles semi-finals at the French Open as a wildcard, and the first French semi-finalist since Marion Bartoli in 2011.
World number two Coco Gauff awaits Boisson in the last four after the American came from a set down to beat compatriot Madison Keys 6-7 (6-8) 6-4 6-1 earlier on Wednesday.
Following her knee injury, Boisson returned to the WTA Tour in April and has proven to be the surprise package of her home major after dazzling the home fans over the past two weeks with her victories over world number 31 Elise Mertens, third-ranked Jessica Pegula and now Russian Andreeva.
In a testing first set, early breaks were traded before 18-year-old Andreeva took the upper hand again.
But Boisson – who has the word ‘resilience’ tattooed on her arm – earned a crucial break back when 5-4 down.
She had three shots at set points but Andreeva held on to force the tie-break, which was subsequently won by Boisson.
After a difficult start to the second set, where Boisson was broken in her first service game and trailed 3-0, the home hope began her fight back with help from a partisan crowd chanting her name.
An aggressive forehand down the line earned a break back for 3-2 and shifted momentum firmly in her favour.
The cauldron of Court Philippe Chatrier under the roof proved too much for Andreeva to handle and her frustration spilled out on several occasions, slamming her fist into her knee and hitting a ball into the crowd.
A second break handed Boisson control of the set before she staved off two break points to win her fifth game in succession.
Cameras were at the ready when Boisson had three match points and she collapsed to the floor in delight after watching Andreeva’s forehand land the wrong side of the paint.
Aged 22 years and nine days, she is the youngest French semi-finalist in a women’s singles Grand Slam event since Amelie Mauresmo reached the same stage at Wimbledon in 1999.
Boisson turned professional in 2021 and was playing on the third rung of the women’s tennis tour last year.
She was building momentum in the run-up to the 2024 French Open, winning three ITF Circuit titles and a WTA Challenger event in May to earn a wildcard for her home Grand Slam.
But an ACL injury to her left knee shattered Boisson’s dream of competing at Roland Garros and she was unable to bring herself to watch the tournament play out.
Boisson took every step to speed up her recovery, utilising neurovisual training, which included sight tests, buzzer reaction tests and using virtual reality headsets to keep her reactions sharp.
Those efforts paid off when she returned to action in February and earned a win over Briton Harriet Dart when making her return to the WTA Tour at the Rouen Open two months ago.
That match hit the headlines after Dart was forced to apologise to Boisson after asking the umpire to tell her opponent to put on deodorant.
But Boisson saw the funny side of the issue and later posted an edited photo of her holding some deodorant and telling toiletries company Dove they they “need a collab”.
The match against Dart was just one of eight Boisson played between returning from injury and the start of the French Open.
Boisson is set for a major climb up the world rankings by the time her run concludes, with her live position up at 65th.
And despite beginning the tournament as the 24th-ranked women’s player in her country, she is now the French number one.
The Dijon-born right-hander had never even played an opponent ranked in the world’s top 50 before this run at Roland Garros but now boasts victories over three, including two ranked in the top 10.
Prior to beginning her campaign at the French Open, Boisson had won 130,000 euros (109,492) in career prize money, but her run to the semi-finals has already secured her 690,000 euros (581,152).
Should she beat Gauff in the semi-finals then she will be guaranteed 1.3m euros (1.09m) and that rises to 2.5m euros (2.1m) if she becomes the first French woman to win the singles crown since Mary Pierce in 2000.
