Paris: French wild card Lois Boisson made headlines on day 11 of the French Open, stunning No. 6 seed Mirra Andreeva in straight sets on Wednesday to become the first homegrown semifinalist at Roland Garros since 2011. The 21-year-old, ranked No. 361 in the world, defeated the Russian teenager 7-6 (6), 6-3, backed by an electric Parisian crowd that rallied behind their unexpected heroine. Just two days earlier, Boisson shocked world No. 3 Jessica Pegula of the United States, marking her first career win over a top-20 opponent.
According to Namibia Press Agency, Boisson rallied from behind in both sets. She came back from 5-3 down in the first and saved two set points before claiming the tiebreak. In the second, she recovered from a 3-0 deficit to reel off six straight games as Andreeva visibly struggled with the crowd pressure.
“I think every kid who plays tennis dreams of winning a Slam. More for French player to win Roland Garros, for sure,” Boisson said. “It’s a dream. For sure, I will go for the dream,
because my dream is to win it, not to be in the semifinal. So I will try to do my best for it.”
With the win, Boisson became the first Frenchwoman to reach the semifinals at Roland Garros since Marion Bartoli in 2011 and the first wild card to do so in the Open era. Her ranking is set to soar nearly 300 spots, and a potential win over American Coco Gauff in the semifinal could push her into the top 50.
No. 2 seed Gauff showed resilience in her quarterfinal clash with Australian Open champion Madison Keys of the United States. After narrowly dropping the first set in a tense tiebreak, Gauff regrouped to win 6-7 (8), 6-4, 6-1.
On the men’s side, 38-year-old Novak Djokovic of Serbia outlasted No. 3 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 in a physically grueling night match that stretched over three hours.
“Especially during the last game, my tactic was just to play drop shots,” Djokovic explained afterward. “I played three or four in a row. Maybe you can’t see it on TV, but there is a lot of win
d from one side, so it gives the sensation that you must hit twice as hard. It was important to vary the game.”
The victory sends Djokovic into his record-extending 51st Grand Slam semifinal, where he will meet Jannik Sinner. The current world No. 1 from Italy downed Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik 6-1, 7-5, 6-0 in under two hours.
In mixed doubles, China’s Zhang Shuai and El Salvador’s Marcelo Arevalo saw their campaign end in the semifinals, falling 6-2, 6-3 to their Italian opponents.