Wild card Lois Boisson lit up the French Open on Wednesday when the home hope downed sixth-seeded Russian Mirra Andreeva to make the semi-finals before Novak Djokovic set up a blockbuster meeting with world number one Jannik Sinner.
While Sinner stretched his Grand Slam winning streak to 19 matches after back-to-back titles at the US Open last year and the Australian Open in January, Boisson, ranked 361st, thrilled the home crowd with a dazzling performance, Reuters reported.
Three-time French Open winner Novak Djokovic stole the show in the evening by outlasting German third seed Alexander Zverev 4-6 6-3 6-2 6-4 to remain in the hunt for a record 25th Grand Slam title at the venue of his Olympic gold medal last year.
Victory after three hours and 17 minutes was the 38-year-old Serbian's 101st win at Roland Garros but he had to draw from his seemingly endless reserves of energy and experience to prevail.
"There was a lot of tension, pressure but it's normal when you play Zverev, one of the best in the world, in the last five-six years," Djokovic said.
"My game is based on a lot of running. I'm 38, it's not easy to keep running like that but, OK, it works."
Sinner was barely troubled as he defeated Alexander Bublik 6-1 7-5 6-0 and became the first Italian man to reach six Grand Slam semi-finals.
The 23-year-old, who served a three-month doping ban before returning to action in Rome last month, raced through the first set after twice breaking the Kazakh, who had stunned fifth seed Jack Draper in the previous round.
Looking to become the first man representing Kazakhstan to defeat a world number one, Bublik, who hit 37 drop shots against Draper, pulled out this weapon again in the second set.
Sinner broke and held to take it before the 27-year-old Bublik, ever the entertainer, delighted fans with an underarm serve but ultimately could do nothing to stop the Italian's march into the last four.
BOISSON SPARKLES
Earlier Boisson became the toast of France after staging the tournament's biggest upset with a 7-6(6) 6-3 win over Andreeva, who had been tipped as a title contender, in an electrifying match that had the home crowd on the edge of their seats.
The 22-year-old had stunned third seed Jessica Pegula in round four, but on Wednesday pulled off another major shock, beating Andreeva, who had not lost a set in the tournament.
"Every player dreams of winning a Slam - and for a French player, Roland Garros even more so. I'll go for it because my dream is to win the final, not the semi-final," Boisson said.
Andreeva, the 18-year-old sixth seed who was bidding to become the youngest female player to reach back-to-back French Open semi-finals in nearly three decades, quickly found herself chasing Boisson's fierce forehand.
The underdog, who has been a breath of fresh air in the tournament with her no-nonsense power game and down-to-earth approach, looked to have run out of steam as Andreeva went 3-0 up but she proceeded to win the next six consecutive games.
Andreeva repeatedly lost her temper and was handed a warning when she fired a ball into the stands in frustration.
With the home crowd the loudest it had been since the start, chants of 'Lois, Lois' echoed across the Philippe Chatrier court, with the decibel level lifted even further because the roof was closed due to rain.
Boisson, who will jump almost 300 places in the rankings next week, will face 2023 US Open champion Coco Gauff, who came out on top in an error-ridden quarter-final against Australian Open champion Madison Keys with the pair littering the court with 101 unforced errors.
UNFORCED ERRORS
With a total of 49 unforced errors in the first set alone they both struggled to hold serve and Gauff, a semi-finalist in Paris last year, wasted a set point before Keys, who reached the French Open last four in 2018, edged ahead with a tiebreak win.
Gauff, who reached the final in 2022 and is the youngest woman to claim 25 main-draw wins at Roland Garros since Martina Hingis (1995-2000), bounced back to win the next two sets.
"So many unforced errors," Gauff, who also had 10 double faults, said to herself after sinking another easy baseline shot into the net.
"I was just trying to be aggressive," the 21-year-old Gauff said. "Usually if you're playing too passive, in the end the more aggressive player is going to win. I knew in the second and the third that I had to try my best."
