French Open: World No 361 Lois Boisson shocks Mirra Andreeva to set up semi-final with Coco Gauff
Lois Boisson shocks Mirra Andreeva to reach French Open semi-finals; Follow scores and reports from Roland-Garros on Sky Sports' digital platforms; You can watch all the action from the ATP and WTA on Sky Sports Tennis and Sky Sports+, NOW and the Sky Sports app
Wednesday 4 June 2025 17:41, UK
World No 361 Lois Boisson continued her French Open Cinderella story by stunning Mirra Andreeva to reach the semi-finals on debut.
The 22-year-old had already sent shockwaves around Roland-Garros by stunning American Pegula to make the quarter-finals and she continued her remarkable form by dumping out sixth seed Andreeva 7-6 (8-6) 6-3.
Boisson's only real claim to fame prior to this year's tournament was being the player Britain's Harriet Dart complained to an umpire about, saying "tell her to wear deodorant".
But she came up smelling of roses on Wednesday afternoon after a famous win in the French capital.
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It was an emotional victory for Boisson, who was due to make her debut in Paris last year only to suffer a serious knee injury a fortnight before the tournament which kept her out of action for nine months.
Boisson was not even sure she would receive a wildcard, with her ranking having plunged so low.
She dropped to the clay with her hands over her eyes in emotional scenes before cupping her ear to the crowd on a packed, raucous Court Philippe-Chatrier.
"Its incredible. Thank you for supporting me like this. I have no words," Boisson told a delirious home crowd that chanted her name and roared at every point.
"I ran a bit too much because I was so tense early on," she admitted. "But I fought hard in that first set, which was so intense. At the start of the second, I felt a little empty, but I hung in there and finished the job."
It was all too much for teenager Andreeva, who had two set points in the first but suffered a complete meltdown in the second.
She told the crowd to "shut up", received a code violation for whacking a ball into the stands, burst into tears and forced her mother Raisa to leave her player's box.
Boisson trailed 3-1 and 5-3 in the first set - eventually saving two set points - to edge a tight tie-break, and kept cool as Andreeva unravelled from 3-0 ahead in the second to win the last six games.
The next Raducanu?
The Frenchwoman was ranked 361st at the start of the tournament - and she has soared an incredible 296 places to a projected new career-high of 65th with the 780 points earned for reaching the last four.
It is the biggest ranking jump from a Grand Slam run since Emma Raducanu won the 2021 US Open as a qualifier. Raducanu rose 127 places from 150th to 23rd for her incredible triumph.
Tennis legend, John McEnroe, who made the French Open final in 1984, losing to Ivan Lendl, said: "I'm very impressed. I never heard of her until this tournament. I heard about the injury, she missed a lot of time, but she looks as though she spent a lot of time in the gym when she was hurt because she looks very physically strong and fit and to me that ended up being the difference.
"This is like a dream story! This is crazy."
Tim Henman added: "I think the crowd played a huge part. They gave her a big lift and Andreeva got a little bit frustrated out there."
Gauff scraps her way into semi-finals
Boisson will now take on Coco Gauff, who passed her biggest test so far as she scrapped her way past fellow American Madison Keys to reach the semi-finals.
A scruffy match featuring a combined 101 unforced errors and 14 breaks of serve ended 6-7 (6-8) 6-4 6-1 in favour of the world No 2.
"Maddie was playing well, she's hitting the ball so fast and so low so I was just trying to fight for each point," said Gauff, the runner-up at Roland Garros in 2022.
"I knew I had to be able to run today and as soon as the ball came short, punish her for it.
"It means a lot, getting through this tough match. I'm very happy to get through and be in the semi-finals again. I'll savour this one today and be ready for tomorrow's match."
Gauff had previously not dropped a set as she quietly made her way through the friendlier side of the draw.
But in a nervy first set on both sides of the net, Gauff overturned a 4-1 deficit to force a set point at 5-4, only to be taken to a tie-break which Keys won.
Gauff went 4-1 up in the second but found herself pegged back, before a break and a hold took the match into a decider.
The confidence had drained from Australian Open champion Keys while Gauff finally located her serve, having coughed up nine double faults over the first two sets.
A pass down the line brought up three match points and the 21-year-old roared with delight when Keys went long, giving her the victory in two hours and 11 minutes.
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