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Wild card Lois Boisson shocks third seed Jessica Pegula at French Open

French wild card Lois Boisson beat third seed Jessica Pegula to reach the French Open quarter-finals and send shockwaves around Roland Garros.

French wild card Lois Boisson beat third seed Jessica Pegula to reach the French Open quarter-finals and send shockwaves around Roland Garros.

The 22-year-old, ranked 361 in the world, stunned American Pegula 3-6 6-4 6-4 in front of a delirious Court Philippe-Chatrier crowd.

Boisson’s only real claim to fame prior to this year’s tournament was being the player Britain’s Harriet Dart complained to an umpire about, saying “tell her to wear deodorant”.

But she came up smelling of roses on Monday afternoon after a famous win in the French capital.

It was an emotional victory for Boisson, who was due to make her debut in Paris last year only to suffer a serious knee injury a fortnight before the tournament which kept her out of action for nine months.

Boisson was not even sure she would receive a wildcard, with her ranking having plunged so low.

She is now the first Frenchwoman to reach the last eight since Caroline Garcia in 2017, and the first wildcard since Mary Pierce in 2002.

“I didn’t expect anything, because we don’t know every time if we will get it or not, so I prefer not to expect it,” she said.

“When I received it, I was really happy. I hope to go further – to win if I can. I will try to do my best, and let’s see.

“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.

“I was just so happy to win and to be able to play a quarter-final.”

Boisson will meet Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva, the sixth seed, in the last eight.

Coco Gauff celebrates after Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova at Roland Garros
Coco Gauff moved serenely into the last eight (Thibault Camus/AP)

Coco Gauff, the world number two, is moving quietly through the draw after beating Russian 20th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-0 7-5.

The 21-year-old, runner-up in 2022, is into the quarter-finals for the fifth successive year.

She will face another American, the Australian Open champion Madison Keys, who beat Hailey Baptiste in straight sets.

In the men’s draw, world number one Jannik Sinner was untroubled in the night match, beating Russian 17th seed Andrey Rublev 6-1 6-3 6-4 in under two hours.

The Italian will face Alexander Bublik in the last eight after the world number 62 from Kazahkstan came from a set and a break down to oust British fifth seed Jack Draper in four sets.