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World No. 361 smelling of roses in sweet French success
Ian Chadband, AAP • June 3rd, 2025 7:47 am
France's Lois Boisson celebrates a sensational win at the French Open, knocking out Jessica Pegula | Photo: AP
Unheralded wildcard Lois Boisson will be glad to brush off her only unfortunate claim to tennis fame, having transformed her standing as the tennis player "who smells really bad" to the Frenchwoman who came up roses with the biggest sensation at her home Open.
Boisson, a lowly No. 361 in the world, got the Court Philippe-Chatrier crowd going wild on a sleepy Monday, rousing them after a long series of French disappointments at Roland Garros as she stunned American third seed Jessica Pegula 3-6 6-4 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals.
The 22-year-old had been an afterthought in the sport until April when British player Harriet Dart had complained to the umpire during their match in Rouen: "Can you tell her (Boisson) to wear deodorant because she smells really bad?"
Jessica Pegula could hardly believe she had been beaten by the world No. 361 | Photo: AP
The comments caused the inevitable social media firestorm but Boisson came out of the episode well, laughing it off and making fun of herself, while Dart bore the brunt of criticism and apologised for the outburst.
But that episode quickly became ancient history when Boisson, who'd been 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, pulled off an 'incroyable' triumph over the US Open runner-up.
Boisson, in her first slam main draw, is the only home hope left in either men's or women's draws after a woeful tournament, and asked about her ambitions for the rest of the tournament, shrugged delightfully: "I hope to win, right?
"Playing on this court with this atmosphere was amazing," she said. "I gave my all and in the end I won, which is just incredible."
Her next outing will be against Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva, the sixth seed, who knocked out Australia's new import Daria Kasatkina 6-3 7-5 on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
In a perfectly-timed moment, Boisson prevailed just before Paris St German soccer star Ousmane Dembele emerged on court to a raucous welcome when he carried the Champions League 'trophy with the big ears' onto Chatrier.
Paris hearts have been all a flutter since PSG's strutting heroes outclassed Inter Milan 5-0 in the final in Munich on Saturday to clinch the trophy for the first time, and Dembele, the Champions League's player of the season, seranded the ecstatic crowd with the salute" "Ici c'est Paris!" (This is Paris!).
It was a lively afternoon which had begun more quietly when second seed Coco Gauff had none of the problems experienced by her fellow American Pegula, as she brushed aside Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-0 7-5 to move into the last-eight.
Coco Gauff exploded out of the blocks, leading 5-0 after just 15 minutes against Ekaterina Alexandrova | Photo: AP
"The whole match I played well. She stepped up her game in the second set. Overall I thought I played great," said the world No. 2, a finalist in 2022.
The 21-year-old had started fast, earning three consecutive breaks for a 5-0 lead in just 15 minutes before it got a bit more complicated, but she raced into an all-American quarter against Australian Open champ Madison Keys, who won another all-US battle with Hailey Baptiste 6-3 7-5.
