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.
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.
Meanwhile, world number one Jannik Sinner continued his relentless pursuit of a maiden French Open title with a typically efficient 6-1 7-5 6-0 win over Kazakh showman Alexander Bublik to reach the semi-finals.
The near-flawless victory ensured Sinner became the first Italian man to make six Grand Slam semi-finals and extended his winning run at the majors to 19 matches after his triumphs at last year’s US Open and the Australian Open in January.
“I’m very happy with how I’ve arrived in the semi-finals. The semi-finals in Grand Slams are very special, I’m looking forward to it,” Sinner said.
The retraction of Court Philippe Chatrier’s roof after a cold, rainy morning signalled the opening of the floodgates as Sinner raced into a 5-0 lead before Bublik got on the board and immediately threatened to break the top seed.
Sinner snuffed out his challenge to win the first set with ease but the 23-year-old ran into trouble in the next set when Bublik pulled out trademark drop shots from his bag of tricks and worked his opponent harder to stay level after 10 games.
“We’ve played each other a couple of times already, so we already knew what to expect a little bit. But, in other aspects, you never know how he is going to play,” Sinner added.
“I feel like he deserved to be in this quarter-final … I tried to focus on my side of the court. I was trying to play as solid as possible because he can have some ups and downs, so I just needed to stay consistent throughout the whole match.”
Agencies
Paris: 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.
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.
Meanwhile, world number one Jannik Sinner continued his relentless pursuit of a maiden French Open title with a typically efficient 6-1 7-5 6-0 win over Kazakh showman Alexander Bublik to reach the semi-finals.
The near-flawless victory ensured Sinner became the first Italian man to make six Grand Slam semi-finals and extended his winning run at the majors to 19 matches after his triumphs at last year’s US Open and the Australian Open in January.
“I’m very happy with how I’ve arrived in the semi-finals. The semi-finals in Grand Slams are very special, I’m looking forward to it,” Sinner said.
The retraction of Court Philippe Chatrier’s roof after a cold, rainy morning signalled the opening of the floodgates as Sinner raced into a 5-0 lead before Bublik got on the board and immediately threatened to break the top seed.
Sinner snuffed out his challenge to win the first set with ease but the 23-year-old ran into trouble in the next set when Bublik pulled out trademark drop shots from his bag of tricks and worked his opponent harder to stay level after 10 games.
“We’ve played each other a couple of times already, so we already knew what to expect a little bit. But, in other aspects, you never know how he is going to play,” Sinner added.
“I feel like he deserved to be in this quarter-final … I tried to focus on my side of the court. I was trying to play as solid as possible because he can have some ups and downs, so I just needed to stay consistent throughout the whole match.”
Agencies
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