Key events
Boisson breaks: Andreeva 6-7, 3-2 Boisson* (*denotes next server)
Andreeva is furious with herself, slapping her thighs, as Boisson holds to 30. She doesn’t look as if she’s shaken off that frustration, when she opens up her service game with an eighth double fault. The umpire pleads with the partisan Parisians to be quiet during Andreeva’s service action. But Andreeva is still shaky, and her feet aren’t quite moving quickly enough, as she drops 15-40 behind. The first break point is saved, but Boisson blasts a backhand winner down the line on the second! This jerking drama has another sudden twist!
Second set: Andreeva 6-7, 3-0 Boisson* (*denotes next server)
Boisson taking that first set means the wildcard has remarkably won three consecutive sets against top-six players on her grand slam debut. Her ranking of 361 is slightly misleading, though, given she had an extended period out with an ACL injury, which she suffered just before Roland Garros last year; she couldn’t even face watching the tournament from home, so upset she was at not being able to take the wildcard she’d been offered. Wonder what she’d have said back then if someone had told her she’d be where she is now. But she looks as if she believes she belongs out there, pushing Andreeva to deuce, but the Russian shakes her off on the next two points to hold. Andreeva is in the ascendancy.
Andreeva breaks: Andreeva* 6-7, 2-0 Boisson (*denotes next server)
A wonderful game of cat and mouse at 30-all on Boisson’s serve, and Andreeva pings a winning lob. 30-40, break point. Andreeva sorely needs this. And she gets it with a deep strike to Boisson’s backhand, which isn’t coming back into play. After all the tension and tumult of that first-set finale, the atmosphere has calmed and Andreeva is working her way back into this.
Second set: Andreeva 6-7, 1-0 Boisson* (*denotes next server)
This is a wonderful, improbable story for Boisson – who knows it could be turning into a Raducanu at the 2021 US Open one – but I do feel for the 18-year-old Andreeva right now, fighting against the crowd. Her seventh double fault hands Boisson a break point in the opening game of the second set. And so many of her doubles have come at crucial moments. She does, at least, find the strength to resist the double fault before taking the next two points for a much-needed hold.
Boisson wins the first-set tie-break 8-6
… and Andreeva can probably barely hear the encouragement of her coach Conchita Martinez to “keep going” over the screams of the crowd. Now it’s Boisson with set point at 7-6 … and Andreeva hoiks wide! Sacre bleu! Boisson has the first set, having been 5-3 and set point down. The Parisian patrons are chanting “LOIS, LOIS, LOIS, LOIS, LOIS, LOIS”. I’m surprised they can breathe.
… make that 4-3, and a ripper of an inside-out forehand gets her to 5-3! She’s hit 15 winners off that wing already. But Andreeva wrests back the mini-break and takes the two points on her serve, and suddenly it’s the Russian with a set point at 6-5 … about 30 minutes after her first. Boisson is serving .. and Andreeva prods out! It’s 6-6 as they again change ends …
So, the first set, after 70 minutes, will be decided by a tie-break, which is the very least it deserves. The early points go on serve, with Boisson edging ahead 3-2, and then Andreeva coughs up another double! She’s complaining to the umpire at the changeover; I think she’s struggling with the crowd noise. It’s easy to forget she’s still only 18; this can’t be easy for her. Boisson leads 4-2 …
First set: Andreeva 6-6 Boisson* (*denotes next server)
… Boisson, all muscle and hustle, is bouncing on the baseline, waiting to receive … and Andreeva double faults! A second set point… again, it’s saved. But here’s another Andreeva double! A third set point … and this goes the same way as the two others. It’s rare to see Andreeva looking so frayed. She moves to advantage after 11 minutes on the game clock, but flaps at the short ball. A sixth deuce. A fifth advantage to Andreeva. Time has turned into a flat circle. But Andreeva. Finally. Holds.
The crowd are in raptures when Boisson nails a couple of winners for 0-30. Boisson looks remarkably calm. A punchy putaway from Andreeva and an errant shot from Boisson make it 30-all. Andreeva hits a slightly weak drive volley but gets a second chance at it, and doesn’t err this time. 40-30. But Andreeva’s shot slides into the net! And Andreeva then makes a total mess of a volley! Now it’s Boisson with a set point. Which Andreeva repels …
First set: Andreeva* 5-6 Boisson (*denotes next server)
Boisson bosses the game to hold to 15. She’s ahead for the first time since the opening game. That set point for Andreeva feels as if it was hours ago. And, having taken out the world No 3 Jessica Pegula in the previous round, the world No 361 is just a game away from nicking the opening set against the world No 6!
Boisson breaks: Andreeva 5-5 Boisson* (*denotes next server)
This time the set is on Andreeva’s racket, and she starts well with a wonderfully disguised drop shot. But she then blinks, batters into the net, and somehow it’s two break-back points! Andreeva misses her first serve … just about lands a wobbly second … but then nets another fallible forehand! From Andreeva having a set point in the previous game, they’re somehow back on serve.
First set: Andreeva* 5-4 Boisson* (*denotes next server)
So Boisson is serving to stay in the first set. She looks in disbelief as Andreeva clips the outside edge of the line. Dangerous times at 15-30 … will Andreeva get a set point? No, because Boisson nervelessly dispatches the smash. But a wild, impatient backhand allows Andreeva to get to deuce. Boisson is the aggressor on the next point … but Andreeva soaks it all up and pulls off the pass! Set point Andreeva. Which Boisson saves with a backhand winner! And two more big hits give Boisson the game!
First set: Andreeva 5-3 Boisson* (*denotes next server)
Andreeva appears totally comfortable here, at 30-0 and 40-15, but a double fault and winning volley from Boisson halt her progress. Deuce. But Andreeva’s understanding of how to construct points and work the angles is so impressive and she pushes and pulls Boisson all over the court before threading a backhand winner down the line. Advantage Andreeva, game Andreeva, with another winner in almost exactly the same spot. Her coach Conchita Martinez, the 1994 Wimbledon champion, looks on approvingly.
Andreeva breaks: Andreeva* 4-3 Boisson (*denotes next server)
Andreeva is much more solid here, working her way to 30-40. Andreeva gets a chance on a second serve … and punishes Boisson’s tepid effort with a backhand winner down the line! Andreeva has the break once more.
Boisson breaks: Andreeva 3-3 Boisson* (*denotes next server)
Boisson cuts Andreeva up with a backhand slice for 0-30. Andreeva then batters a backhand into the tramlines for 15-40, two break-back points. The umpire is pelading with the crowd to be quiet as Andreeva attempts to serve … they just about oblige … but are cheering and chanting when Andreeva makes another unforced error! The closed roof is magnifying the noise. That was a very loose game from the Russian.
First set: Andreeva* 3-2 Boisson (*denotes next server)
Andreeva’s backhand winner on the return for 30-all deserves applause, but it’s met with stony silence by the French crowd. They’re cheering, though, when Boisson brings up 40-30. And sighing when Boisson’s forehand smacks into the net. Her forehand hasn’t quite got going yet; she’s rushing it a bit. But she is patient on the net point, drop shotting, lobbing, moving Andreeva around, but the Andreeva adeptly turns defence into attack. Advantage Andreeva, a point for a double break. But Boisson displays superb French resistance to save it and then hold, as she wallops away a forehand. That’ll have shaken off a few nerves.
First set: Andreeva 3-1 Boisson* (*denotes next server)
Before this fortnight Boisson was best known outside of France as being the poor player that Britain’s Harriet Dart wanted to put on some deodorant during a match in April because she “smells really bad”. Boisson took the media reaction in her stride – as she has all the attention during this tournament – but playing in a grand slam quarter-final is another matter entirely. Boisson is given time to settle in this game as Andreeva serves up two double faults, but at deuce Andreeva aims right on the line with a forehand winner after a 23-shot rally! Andreeva goes on to back up the break.
Andreeva breaks: Andreeva* 2-1 Boisson (*denotes next server)
A hint of danger for Boisson at 15-30, and she shows deft touch to dink over a drop shot winner. 30-all. But she then strides forward to the short ball, with the court at her mercy, and hits into the net! Cue a collective gasp. 30-40, a first break point, but Andreeva can’t land her backhand return. Andreeva soon has another break point, and Boisson, on the run, crushes a forehand into the net. That was edgy.
First set: Andreeva 1-1 Boisson* (*denotes next server)
Other than Boisson’s forehand, she has a good sliced backhand, a pretty big first serve and a kicking second serve, with her game probably best suited to clay. Andreeva thrives on the red dirt, too, having reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros last year, but the teenager has won titles on the hard courts of Indian Wells and Dubai this season, becoming the youngest player to win WTA 1000 titles in the process. Andreeva replies to Boisson’s confident hold with an assured one of her own, holding to 30.
First set: Andreeva* 0-1 Boisson (*denotes next server)
Apparently Boisson was practising with Jannik Sinner this morning to get her eye in for this quarter-final, and the 22-year-old is looking sharp from the off, moving to 30-0 with little fuss. Andreeva’s forehand return skids just wide and it’s 40-0. Boisson makes her first error as she goes long with her forehand, which is the biggest weapon in her game. Andreeva will want to neutralise that that. But it doesn’t matter; another unreturned serve and it’s jeu Boisson.
So this match pits a Russian prodigy channelling the spirit of Martina Hingis against a French overnight success who’s repeated the feat of Mary Pierce by reaching the last eight at Roland Garros as a wildcard.
There’s so much about Andreeva that reminds me of Hingis – the precocious talent, the high tennis IQ, the variety – and the 18-year-old is also the youngest player since Hingis in 1998 to reach back-to-back Roland Garros quarter-finals.
But Boisson is breaking records of her own, with the world No 361’s most unlikely home run on her grand slam debut making her not only the first wildcard to reach the last eight since Pierce in 2002, but the lowest-ranked player to get this far in 40 years.
Here the players come, Boisson getting the bigger cheer, quelle surprise. It’s a bit discombobulating turning on a day match and feeling as if it’s night. It’s still gloomy and drizzly in Paris, so the roof remains on. Andreeva seems to think it’s the evening too, as she’s wearing a long, pleated burgundy skirt over her tennis outfit. She soon takes it off and the pair are warming up.
Thanks Daniel. Well that was tense, tense, tense. It was as if they had clay in their shoes and lead in their rackets until Gauff pulled away with it at the end. But even though the level was so patchy it was still strangely compelling – and it was good to see one of the women’s quarter-finals go to three sets. Hopefully Andreeva and Boisson can go the distance too.
Anyroad up, that’s me done for the now. I’ll be back in a bit, but here’s Katy to chill with you through Mirra Andreeva (6) v Lois Boisson. À bientôt!
You’ve got to hand it to Gauff, who played her best stuff in the decider. Perhaps the prospect and experience of facing Keys, someone she knows really well, had her second-guessing herself a bit, but the third set was much more like it and those are the vibes she’ll take into tomorrow.
At 4-1, Gauff says Keys was playing well, hitting it hard and low, so she just had to fight. She acknowledges her opponent has perhaps the best forehand in the game, so she’d have to run and as soon as she got a short ball, punish it.
Her last match was played in warmer conditions, so she reduced tension in her racket strings for this match, changed it at 1-4 and went 5-4, though she doesn’t know if that made the difference. She thought with the roof closed the court would play slower which it did in some moments, but it also played quicker, which was perhaps because of her opponent’s power.
Otherwise, she’s delighted to be in the semi; she’ll enjoy the feeling today, then come back firing tomorrow.
Keys will be so disappointed with how she played today. Her biggest weapon, her forehand, was her biggest enemy, and she just couldn’t get herself going. But here’s Coco, leather jacked donned!
Coco Gauff (2) beats Madison Keys 7-6(6) 6-4 6-1
*Keys 7-6(6) 4-6 1-6 Gauff Serving to stay in the match, Keys errs twice for 0-30, but this time she’s prompted to by the improved consistency of Gauff’s hitting. And have a look! A squash shot, zoned down the line, raises three match points, and one final forehand, butchered long, sends Gauff into the last four, where she’ll meet Boisson or Andreeva. She’ll need to play a lot better in that one.
Keys 7-6(6) 4-6 1-5 Gauff* Gauff opens the game with a nervous double – merely fair serving and this match would already be over – but it looks like momentum is unassailable hers and she soon leads 30-15. Keys, though, steps into a pair of forehands, the second a clean winner, and the feeling persists that if she hit a streak, her bigger game would take her to victory. That doesn’t, though, look at all likely, Gauff responding with a drop followed by a body-serve that Keys can’t return. Champion that she is, she’s found her best form in the clutch; so far this set, she’s made just two unforced errors, one of those a double, and she’s a game away.
*Keys 7-6(6) 4-6 1-4 Gauff Keys’ easy power is a joke, a buggy-whip forehand making 15-all, then a big serve and backhand clean-up nudging her in front. But another unforced error levels the game, a fantastic backhand winner raises a point for the double break … then Keys remembers who she is, a pair of booming backhands taking us to deuce. Gauff, though, knows she’s playing the better, lands a huge forehand return on to the line, then steps in and gets on top of one, above shoulder-height, dispensing a terrific winner, and when a backhand, potentially framed, catches the sideline and dies – Gauff raises a hand in mortification – the no 2 seed has the double break. She’s two games away.
Keys 7-6(6) 4-6 1-3 Gauff* Gauff might just’ve settled in time. She holds to love, playing her game, and if that continues, Keys will need to improve significantly if she’s to win.
*Keys 7-6(6) 4-6 1-2 Gauff Now a love hold for Keys, and that’ll fortify her with at least a soupçon of confidence as she seeks a break back. The standard so far in this set has been a little better than what’s come before it.
Keys 7-6(6) 4-6 0-2 Gauff* This is the Keys that used to be, capable of the very best and very worst, often in the same point. Gauff consolidates to love, and has she made the definitive move?
*Keys 7-6(6) 4-6 0-1 Gauff Keys does brilliantly to stick in the longest rally of the match, retrieving an overhead before lasering a backhand winner down the line. But when she goes again next point, she misses by a fraction, then sends down a double … partially redeemed by two big groundstrokes that make 30-all. Again, though, Keys can’t string quality points together, a winner then an error taking us to deuce, whereupon similar happens and round we go again. This time, though, Keys nets a backhand, then a corner-to-corner forehand is fractionally wide, her 50th unforced error of the match, and Gauff leads by a break in the decider!
“‘If either player delivered delivered this level against Swiatek or Sabalenka, they’d get absolutely tumped’,” says Harry Spencer, quoting me back to myself. “Forget about Swiatek or Sabalenka, Mirra Andreeva will obliterate either of these players at this standard.”
I can’t argue with that.
Coco Gauff wins the second set to setup a decider
Keys 7-6(6) 4-6 Gauff* A backhand error hands Gauff 0-15 but a fine forehand return levels the game and we’re soon as 30-all. From there, though, Keys wafts a backhand long to raise set point, then swats a backhand into the net, and we’re level at a set apiece! I’ve not a clue what’s going to happen next and i doubt the players do either.
