Staff Reporter.
Wildcard Loïs Boisson stunned the sixth seed Mirra Andreeva to reach the semi-finals of the French Open and continue her fairytale run at her home grand slam.
The 22-year-old Frenchwoman, ranked 361 in the world, pulled off her second scarcely believable upset in the space of two days with a 7-6 (6), 6-3 victory.
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.