Lois Boisson reaches French Open quarterfinals, stunning American No. 1 Jessica Pegula

New York Times

02-06-2025

ROLAND GARROS, PARIS — One year ago, Loïs Boisson had her tennis dream dashed. After tearing through the third rung of professional women's tennis, the French Tennis Federation (FFT) awarded Boisson a wild card for the French Open. A week before, at a minor tournament in Paris, Boisson tore her anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee and missed nine months of tennis.
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12 months after the pain, Boisson was on Court Philippe-Chatrier soaking in the adoration of a French crowd. She upset Jessica Pegula, the world No. 3, to reach the French Open quarterfinals. She is the first French woman to reach the last eight at Roland Garros since Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic in 2017, after beating Pegula 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Boisson looked a little overawed by the occasion in the first set, as Pegula's relentless accuracy and consistency from the baseline ground her down and drew her into mistakes. Boisson couldn't read the American's drop shots and was often scrambling to no avail after being pushed further and further to the back of the court. Boisson is the world No. 361 as she makes her return from injury, and the 358 places were showing.
But Boisson did not wilt, and the slow filling-up of the lower bowl of Chatrier was a barometer for how she worked her way into the match. Boisson figured out that she could make Pegula hesitate in coming to net, with a combination of drop shots and lobs that left the American in two minds. At 4-4 in the second set, the pressure started to tell. Pegula missed two groundstrokes she will likely never miss at a major again, before Boisson cracked a backhand crosscourt to take the set.
Riding a wave of tricolores and chants of 'Loïs,' Boisson broke Pegula in the first game of the third set, but the American came back to reel off three games as Boisson went flat and the crowd did too.
But at 4-4, just as in the second set, her combination of high, heavy spin and elite redirection on her forehand — dragging Pegula this way and that — put more doubts in the American's mind. She missed a backhand from the middle of the court at deuce, and a point later Boisson was serving for the match.
With Boisson down 30-40, both players tightened. Pegula waifed a backhand over the net and then hit a clever short, angled forehand, but Boisson eked it over and the ball died at Pegula's feet. The American earned a second break point, but the crowd rose to Boisson again. A drop shot lob combination spinning over Pegula's head, the play that had given her a foothold in the match in the first place, brought the crowd to its feet and saw Boisson raise her arms for noise for the first time.
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By the final game, Court Philippe-Chatrier was almost full. Word moved around the ticketholders, likely waiting for Novak Djokovic's match to follow this one, that one of their own was doing something special. Another break point. Another drop shot. A flick from Pegula that dropped wide, the American leaning on the net in disbelief.
A net cord off a Pegula return sent Boisson scrambling forward to a ball she somehow dug out. She played the next shot, a volley off a weak lob, like she wanted it to land on a pillow, not some clay. Pegula got to it but could only net.
On her second match point, Boisson sent a forehand inside-in and raised her arms to a roar that shook Chatrier. It was Boisson's roar after the handshake, arms out and screaming into the sky, that made the past 12 months melt into air.