French wildcard Boisson shocks Pegula at Roland Garros
PA Media/DPA
Paris
French wildcard Lois Boisson beat third seed Jessica Pegula to reach the French Open quarter-finals and send shockwaves around Roland Garros.
The 22-year-old, ranked 361 in the world, stunned American Pegula 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in front of a delirious Court Philippe-Chatrier crowd.
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 Monday after a famous win in the French capital.
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.
'I'm not sure what to say. Playing on this court with this atmosphere was amazing,' she said.
'I gave my all and in the end I won which is just incredible. I hope I'm going to win it all.' Boisson will meet Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva, the sixth seed, in the last eight.
Coco Gauff, the world number two, is moving quietly through the draw after beating Russian 20th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-0, 7-5.
The 21-year-old, runner-up in 2022, is into the quarter-finals for the fifth successive year.
She will face another American, the Australian Open champion Madison Keys, who beat Hailey Baptiste in straight sets.
Andreeva awaits
Boisson is now 1-0 against Top 20 players in her career – her match against World No. 3 Pegula was her first-ever meeting with a player ranked inside that echelon.
Things won't get any easier for the wild card: another of the world's Top 10 players will be Boisson's quarterfinal opponent. She will have her first meeting with No. 6 seed Mirra Andreeva , who bested Daria Kasatkina 6-3, 7-5 earlier on Monday.
Regardless, Boisson will reach a career-high ranking after the tournament. She is projected to rise to around No. 120 after this win (WTA 125 results from this week could shift that a few spots). Another upset win in the quarterfinals could push Boisson as high as No. 68 in the PIF WTA Rankings.
'Things are not going to change for me,' Boisson said. 'They're going to continue in the same way. It's just that my ranking will enable me to play larger, more important tournaments. That's the only thing that's going to change.'
'It's absolutely great to be in the quarterfinals,' Boisson said. 'My hope is to have as many French people in that level in the coming years. It represents a lot to be in the quarterfinals here, and as I said, I hope to go even further.'
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