Lois Boisson’s extraordinary run continued as the 22-year-old became the first wildcard in history to reach the semi-finals at Roland Garros.
The Frenchwoman followed up her last-16 victory over No3 seed Jessica Pegula with a 7-6, 6-3 win over No6 seed Mirra Andreeva.
The rankings of the Roland Garros semi-finalists are therefore as follows: 1, 2, 5, 361.
Just for reaching the semi-finals in her remarkable run, Boisson will win £586,341 – a sum over five times her total career earnings to date of £109,000.
In searching for a comparable run, we can only land on Emma Raducanu at the 2021 US Open. Even then, Raducanu was a couple of hundred places higher, having already reached the fourth round of Wimbledon. If Boisson can somehow win two more matches here she will eclipse Raducanu as the most extraordinary Slam champion of all time.
‘It was unbelievable, amazing,’ said Boisson, who will rise to 65th in the world – in one tournament going from French No24 to French No1. ‘There are no words to describe this feeling.’
Lois Boisson has made history with her shock win against Mirra Andreeva at the French Open
With the support of the Philippe-Chatrier crowd the home favourite belied her ranking to reach the semi-finals
18-year-old Andreeva had a challenging time on the court as she struggled to settle the crowd
There are few words to describe this run, either, so let’s try a few numbers first.
She is the youngest Frenchwomen to make a major am semi-final since current tournament director Amelie Mauresmo at the Australian Open in 1999; the first Grand Slam debutant to reach the semis since teenage prodigies Monica Seles and Jennifer Capriati here in 1989.
She had won a single WTA Tour match before this fortnight, against Britain’s Harriet Dart in Rouen.
Boisson was put in the challenging position of briefly going viral after on-court microphones picked up Dart complaining that her opponent ‘smelled really bad’ and ‘needed deodorant’ – with the British star issuing an apology on social media in the controversial aftermath.
Now she faces global superstar and No2 seed Coco Gauff, who beat fellow American Madison Keys, in a bid to make the semi-finals of her home tournament.
‘I will go for the dream,’ said Boisson. ‘My dream is to win it, not to get to the semifinals.’
A most outlandish fairytale but, like all good fairytales, there is a dark side and that is the manner in which an 18-year-old girl was attacked by a raucously partisan crowd.
‘In the first set I managed it pretty well,’ said Andreeva. ‘I didn’t really pay attention to it but obviously with nerves and with pressure, it became a little harder.’
Boisson was overcome with emotion as she gave her on-court interview to her compatriot Lucas Pouille
The world No361’s stinging forehand was a constant problem for the Russian teenager
By the end of the match Andreeva was a wreck, her game becoming increasingly error-strewn
Boisson will now make five times her career earnings to date whether she wins or loses against Coco Gauff
This luminous Russian talent was a wreck by the end. She made 43 unforced errors, 30 on a forehand wing which utterly collapsed. There were nine double faults – cheered gleefully by the crowd.
In the second set Andreeva took a 3-0 lead but in the next game, after netting a volley, she blasted a ball into the stands and Philippe Chatrier reverberated with boos. The crowd were eating her alive and Andreeva never recovered, losing the next six games in a row.
Boisson was sensational, as she has been all fortnight. She has a terrific forehand, able to generate as much spin as anyone in the women’s game. And then there are those dancing feet, which allow her to skate around her weaker backhand to bring the big gun into play.
Like the venom of a cobra, Boisson seems able to induce paralysis in her more august opponents. Pegula and Andreeva were both pushing the ball around the court at times, shadows of their usual free-flowing selves.
It is as if the top players just cannot force their brains to fight Boisson on equal terms. Faced with a player ranked outside the top 350, their Pavlovian reaction is to play passive, low-risk tennis and wait for the rank outsider to implode.
But Boisson’s comically low ranking can be explained by a knee ligament tear which put her out of last year’s Roland Garros, and 10 months out with a shoulder injury. It would be a surprise if this run proves to be a flash in the pan.
Next up for Boisson is the brilliant, fleet-footed Gauff. Surely, surely the former US Open champion will have too much for her? Mind you, that is precisely what we said about Pegula and Andreeva, too.
