World No. 361 Lois Boisson Continues Dream French Open 2025 Run, Beats Mirra Andreeva To Reach Semis
An inspired Lois Boisson delighted Roland Garros as the French world number 361 downed Mirra Andreeva on Wednesday to set up a French Open semi-final against Coco Gauff, before Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic both chase men's last-four berths. Boisson, making her debut at a Grand Slam event, powered her way to a thrilling 7-6 (8/6), 6-3 victory on a raucous Court Philippe Chatrier to become the first Frenchwoman to reach the semis since Marion Bartoli in 2011.
The 22-year-old, who was due to play at last year's French Open but suffered a knee injury the week before the tournament, is the lowest-ranked woman to reach a major semi-final in 40 years.
"It was incredible to play in front of this crowd and feel support like that," said Boisson, after hitting 24 winners past Russian sixth seed Andreeva to follow up her fourth-round win over world number three Jessica Pegula with an even more surprising victory.
A dramatic first set saw Andreeva miss a set point after leading 5-3, before Boisson fought back only to see three chances of her own come and go in a marathon 12th game.
But the wildcard fought off another set point in the tie-break, before taking her next opportunity, cupping her ear towards the adoring crowd in celebration.
Andreeva gathered herself and quickly built a 3-0 lead in the second set, only to be left jumping up and down in anger after a missed backhand gave Boisson a much-needed hold of serve.
The 18-year-old Andreeva started to crumble under the pressure, being given a warning for slamming a ball into the top tier of the stands as the atmosphere heated up under the Chatrier roof.
She was roundly booed when she then argued with the umpire over a line call, and was broken later that game after another double-fault to suddenly trail 4-3.
Boisson made it six consecutive games to secure a seismic victory as Andreeva, one of the pre-tournament favourites, completely unravelled.
Second seed Gauff battled back from a set down to defeat fellow American, and Australian Open champion, Madison Keys in an error-strewn opening match 6-7 (6/8), 6-4, 6-1.
The former US Open champion upped her level enough after dropping the first set to get through a quarter-final littered with 14 double-faults and a whopping 101 unforced errors.
"It means a lot, especially getting through this tough match today, it wasn't an easy match and I'm very happy to get through it," she said.
Gauff, the 2022 losing finalist, will be hoping to go at least one better than when she lost to Iga Swiatek in last year's semi-final.
Swiatek continues her bid for a fourth consecutive Roland Garros title in a blockbuster clash with world number one Aryna Sabalenka in Thursday's other semi-final.
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