Wild card Boisson stuns Pegula

World No.361 outlasts world No.3 to move into quarterfinals on her Grand Slam debut

Loïs Boisson, Roland-Garros 2025, fourth round©Pauline Ballet / FFT
 - Lee Goodall

(WC) Lois Boisson bt (3) Jessica Pegula 3-6, 6-4, 6-4

Few tennis fans would have been familiar with Lois Boisson before Roland-Garros began, but after the 22-year-old delivered easily the biggest shock of the tournament so far on Monday her name is in lights.

A little over 12 months after having to miss out on her home Grand Slam after tearing the ACL in her left knee, the wild card and world No.361 outplayed and outfought world No.3 Jessica Pegula in a crazy Court Philippe-Chatrier battle to book a quarter-final spot.

Did she have an inkling that she was ready to make a show-stopping run at her home Slam before the tournament began?

"For sure I will not believe that if you tell me that two weeks ago," she said. "But I trust in myself. Now that it happened, I'm so happy about it."

The closing stages must have felt like agony for Boisson and the 15,000 fans inside Chatrier cheering her every step of the way. 

The right-hander from Lyon took Pegula’s serve for a 5-4 lead in the decider by converting a fourth break point in the game, and then had to survive four break points on her own serve before sealing it on her first match point to scramble home 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 after 2 hours and 40 minutes.

"For the match point, I really felt very tense, and when I saw that my forehand was a winner, well, the whole pressure went off," she later recalled. "I was just so happy to win and to be able to play a quarter-final."

Boisson's fairytale Paris run continues on Wednesday when she faces No.6 seed Mirra Andreeva in the last eight. 

"It's a different type of game," she said of the No.6 seed. "She varies her game much more. She has a very good backhand. She's very solid on both sides.

"So I believe I will have to expect a lot of difficult rallies. But it will not change my game plan probably. I might adapt a few details, but I'm not going to change."

She'll worry more about that looming contest after the shock of today's victory subsides.

"I really don't know what to say,” Boisson told the crowd moments after shaking hands with Pegula. 

“Playing on this court with such an atmosphere was incredible. I knew I could do it, but she's super strong. When I saw that it was possible, I gave everything I had. It's incredible."

Pegula is Boisson’s second seeded victim of the fortnight after she upset Belgium’s Elise Mertens in the first round.

"I honestly don't think I was that surprised by how she played," a disappointed Pegula told reporters. "I felt like the match turned into exactly how she wanted to play, and that's unfortunate for me."