French Open: 361st-ranked Frenchwoman Boisson upsets No. 3 Pegula. Gauff and Djokovic win

Hindustan Times

2 days ago

PARIS — Loïs Boisson never had played at the French Open, let alone in the biggest arena at Roland-Garros. Nothing fazed the French wild-card entry and now she is in the quarterfinals.
Boisson, ranked just 361st, threw her head back and roared after beating No. 3 seed Jessica Pegula 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 on Court Philippe-Chatrier in the fourth round Monday.
She is by far the lowest-ranked woman to beat someone ranked in the top five at the French Open in 40 years. The lowest previously in that span was No. 179 Aniko Kapros, who eliminated No. 5 Justine Henin in the first round in 2002.
Boisson also is the lowest-ranked woman to reach the quarterfinals at Roland-Garros since at least 1985.
Quite a victory, considering Pegula was the U.S. Open runner-up last year. Understandably, Boisson was nervous as she served for the match and saved three break points.
After Pegula missed an easy-looking winner at the net and clutched her head in her hands, Boisson had her first match point, the biggest point of her career.
Pegula returned a strong serve to the back of the court, where Boisson unleashed a forehand winner down the line. She then raised her arms and realized the enormity of her win.
'Thank you to all of you," Boisson told the crowd in her post-match interview. 'Playing on this court with such an atmosphere was really incredible.'
Boisson made the notoriously hard-to-please crowd laugh when she added: 'I'm really happy on here. I can stay a long time if you like.'
The crowd broke into chants of 'Loïs! Loïs!" and she waved back to them.
She is the only French singles player left in either bracket and feels comfortable on clay, having played on it regularly since taking up tennis when she was 8.
Asked what her ambitions were for the rest of the tournament — she plays sixth-seeded Mirra Andreeva on Wednesday in the quarterfinals — Boisson replied, 'I hope to win, right?'
That prompted more laughter from the crowd, which included tournament director Amelie Mauresmo, who has been criticized for the lack of women's matches during night sessions.
Another women's quarterfinal was set up between No. 2 Coco Gauff and No. 7 Madison Keys, two Americans who each own one Grand Slam title. Gauff, the 2023 U.S. Open champion, won 6-0, 7-5 against No. 20 Ekaterina Alexandrova, and Keys, the Australian Open title winner in January, defeated yet another American, Hailey Baptiste, 6-3, 7-5.
Over on Court Suzanne-Lenglen, the 18-year-old Andreeva, who reached the semifinals at Roland-Garros last year for her best performance at a major, got past No. 17 Daria Kasatkina 7-5, 6-3. They are pals, and Kasatkina playfully threw her wristband at Andreeva when they came to the net; Andreeva joked she would keep it.
In men's action, Novak Djokovic earned his 100th career French Open victory and set up a quarterfinal against No. 3 Alexander Zverev, last year's runner-up. No. 62 Alexander Bublik surprised No. 5 Jack Draper 5-7, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 and next meets either No. 1 Jannik Sinner or No. 17 Andrey Rublev, who were scheduled to play Monday night for the last men's quarterfinal spot.
Djokovic overwhelmed Cam Norrie 6-2, 6-3, 6-2, and Zverev was leading 6-4, 3-0 when Tallon Griekspoor quit because of an abdominal strain.
The quarterfinals get started on Day 10. The women's matches are No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka vs. Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng, and three-time defending champion Iga Swiatek against No. 13 Elina Svitolina. The men's matches are No. 8 Lorenzo Musetti vs. No. 15 Frances Tiafoe, and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz vs. No. 12 Tommy Paul at night. Tiafoe and Paul give the United States two men's quarterfinalists for the first time since Jim Courier and Pete Sampras in 1996. There hadn't even been one from the country since Andre Agassi in 2003. ___
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