Lois Boisson continues fairy tale French Open run as she books her spot in the semifinals

By Ben Morse, CNN

(CNN) — Lois Boisson continued her fairy tale Cinderella run at the French Open on Wednesday as she beat No. 6 seed Mirra Andreeva to advance to the semifinals.

The world No. 361 won in straight sets – 7-6 (6), 6-3 – at Roland Garros to the delight of the home crowd cheering her on.

Boisson collapsed to the clay after securing her monumental win, with her hands on her head in disbelief. She was serenaded with chants of “Allez, Lois!” as she gathered her thoughts afterwards.

The 22-year-old becomes just the lowest ranked women’s grand slam semifinalist in the last 40 years and the third women’s player since 1980 to make the semifinals in their first major after Monica Seles and Jennifer Capriati.

The historic achievements don’t stop there though; Boisson also becomes the first French semifinalist at her home grand slam since Marion Bartoli in 2011 and the first in the Open Era to do it as a wild card. She is also the first player ranked outside the top-300 of the world rankings to defeat multiple top-10 in a single event since Serena Williams in Chicago 1997, per Opta.

Her run means she will reach a career-high in the world rankings after the tournament ends, with her victory on Wednesday catapulting her as high as world No. 68.

It was Andreeva who began the first set faster, holding 3-1 and 5-3 leads at points. But the 22-year-old from Dijon was able to come back valiantly and force a tie-break. Cheered on by a home crowd, Boisson was just able to find an edge.

And although Andreeva raced into a 3-0 lead in the second set, Boisson pushed on to a blistering comeback, winning the next six games to book her spot in the semifinals.

“It’s incredible. Thank you for supporting me like this – I have no words,” Boisson said on court afterwards. “I ran a bit too much because I was so tense early on. 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.”

Boisson will face No. 2 seed Coco Gauff in the last four after the 21-year-old came back from a set down to beat her fellow American Madison Keys and reach the semifinals on Wednesday.

Gauff wins battle of Americans

Gauff lost the opening set at Roland Garros in a nervy tiebreaker to Keys but bounced back emphatically to eventually win 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-1, ending Keys’ 11-match grand slam win streak.

Gauff will now face crowd favorite Boisson in the last four.

“I changed something at 4-1 in that first set and after that I had chances to win the set,” Gauff said on court afterwards. “Madison was playing well, so I was just trying to get the ball deep and be aggressive, but it’s tough because she was hitting the ball so fast and so low. I was just trying to fight for every point.

“She is obviously a very great player and her forehand is probably one of the best, if not the best, on tour. I was just trying my best to get it on the other side of the court, but she has a great inside-out and inside-in forehand.

“Honestly, I knew that I just had to be able to run today. As soon as the ball came short, I knew I had to punish her for it.”

Gauff, a losing finalist at the French Open three years ago, needed to show all her mettle to overcome the 2025 Australian Open champion.

It was Keys who raced into an early lead in the first set and, although Gauff was able to fight back, the 30-year-old found the necessary edge to take an early lead with her opponent missing a set point.

But Gauff looked much more assured in the second set, breaking Keys twice to put herself in front. But this time, it was Keys who came back, leveling the scores in the second set before Gauff broke once more and held serve to tie it at 1-1.

And in the deciding set, Gauff had finally found her stride, looking much more comfortable as she romped to a comfortable 6-1 set victory to take the match.

It was far from Gauff’s most complete performance at Roland Garros – where she won the French Open doubles title last year – but she won’t care as it books her spot in the semifinals.

“It means a lot, especially after getting through this tough match today,” the No. 2 seed said. “It wasn’t an easy match and I’m very happy to get through it.

“I’m just very excited to be back in the semifinals here again. I have a lot more work to do, but I’m going to savor this one today. I’ll be ready for tomorrow’s match.”

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