Wild card Lois Boisson makes history in French Open main draw debut

Unseeded Lois Boisson makes the last four in Paris in her maiden main draw appearance at the venue. 

Lois Boisson became the toast of France on Wednesday after defeating World No. #6 Mirra Andreeva in the French Open quarter-finals. Unseeded at the event and ranked World No. #361, Boisson is the first Frenchwoman to make the semi-finals at Roland Garros since Marion Bartoli in 2011. The last homegrown champion at the clay-court major in the women’s singles event was Mary Pierce in 2000.

The 22-year-old Boisson enters the record books as the first wild card to reach the French Open women’s singles semi-finals in the Open Era. She handed the Russian teenager a shock defeat in straight sets, 7-6(6), 6-3 in two hours and eight minutes. Boisson edged Andreeva in a tight opening set tie-break and watched the Russian sixth seed unravel in the second set.

Andreeva squandered a 3-0 lead in the second set and was reduced to being a spectator as Boisson reeled off six games in a row to cross the finish line.

Andreeva was the second top-ten victim claimed by Boisson after World No. #3 Jessica Pegula two days earlier. The Russian, a semi-finalist last season, was the clear favourite against Boisson, who was the underdog heading into their maiden tour-level clash. The 18-year-old Andreeva was enjoying a breakthrough season as winner at the Indian Wells and Dubai WTA 1000s earlier this year.

As many as 43 unforced errors and nine double faults flowed from Andreeva’s racquet. The Russian lost her cool at 3-3 in the second set while trailing 0-30. She hit the ball in anger and was awarded a code violation for her outburst and was involved in a heated argument at the very next point when the chair umpire ruled her forehand to be out.

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Another Boisson milestone achieved is becoming just the second player in 40 years to defeat multiple top-10 opponents in her Grand Slam main draw debut since Monica Seles in Paris in 1989. She has emulated Monica Seles (1989) and Jennifer Capriati (1990), who also made their singles Grand Slam semi-final debut at Roland Garros. 

Semi-final bound Boisson will look to continue her fairytale run when she takes on World No #2 Coco Gauff for a place in Saturday’s final. Gauff rallied from a set down to defeat Madison Keys 6-7(8), 6-4, 6-1 in an all-American quarter-final affair to reach her second straight semi-finals at Roland Garros.

Boisson is assured of a spot among the top 70 when the revised WTA Rankings come out next week and could break into the top 60 if she defeats Gauff on Thursday. 

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