Paris - France's Lois Boisson has lit up Roland Garros with one of the most improbable Grand Slam runs in recent memory, stunning world No. 6 seed Mirra Andreeva in straight sets—7-6(6), 6-3—on Wednesday to book her spot in the French Open semifinals.

Ranked a staggering No. 361 in the world, the 22-year-old wildcard has turned Court Philippe-Chatrier into a stage of dreams, delivering the performance of a lifetime in front of an electrified home crowd. As her final winning shot landed, Boisson dropped to the clay, hands over her head in disbelief, while chants of “Allez, Lois!” rang out across the arena.

“It’s incredible. Thank you for supporting me like this – I have no words,” Boisson said through tears during her post-match interview. “I was tense early on, running everywhere. But I stayed in the fight.”

Boisson’s breakthrough isn’t just heartwarming—it’s historic. She becomes the lowest-ranked woman to reach a Grand Slam semifinal in 40 years and joins the elite company of Monica Seles and Jennifer Capriati as only the third player since 1980 to reach a major semifinal on debut.

She’s also blazing new trails as the first Frenchwoman to reach the semis at her home Slam since Marion Bartoli in 2011—and the first in the Open Era to do so as a wildcard. Even more impressively, she’s the first player ranked outside the top 300 to defeat multiple top-10 opponents in a single tournament since a young Serena Williams pulled it off in 1997.

But this wasn’t a walk in the park. Andreeva, a rising star in her own right, came out firing, grabbing early leads of 3-1 and 5-3 in the first set. Yet Boisson, backed by a raucous French crowd, showed grit beyond her years to push the set to a tiebreak and edge it out.

The second set looked like it might slip away when Andreeva went up 3-0. But Boisson, feeding off adrenaline and pure belief, rattled off six consecutive games in a stunning turnaround that left the stadium on its feet.

Her magical run is also set to catapult her up the WTA rankings—she’s projected to climb to world No. 68, a staggering leap from where she started the tournament.

Next up: a colossal showdown with world No. 2 seed Coco Gauff, who overcame fellow American Madison Keys to reach the last four.

Whether or not Boisson's dream ends there, one thing is certain—France has found its new tennis darling, and Roland Garros may never forget the name Lois Boisson


By wafricNews sport desk.