The dream is over for Lyonnaise Loïs Boisson, revelation of the spring at Roland-Garros

The step was simply too high for Loïs Boisson. Having defeated two members of the top 10 in the previous rounds , the Roland-Garros revelation Loïs Boisson (361st in the world) was soundly beaten on Thursday in the semi-finals by world No. 2 Coco Gauff.

On the Philippe-Chatrier court, the first Frenchwoman since 2011 to reach the semi-finals of the Parisian Grand Slam on clay lost 6-1, 6-2 to the American, who will face world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the final.

" Obviously, today, I'm extremely disappointed, I wanted to go further than this semi-final ," regretted Lyon's Loïs Boisson at a press conference, who had been repeating for several days her ambition to become the first Frenchwoman to win in Paris since Mary Pierce in 2000. Against Gauff, " it was simply too hard for me ," she said, before congratulating herself on a fortnight that was " very positive " in other respects.

By reaching the semi-finals at Porte d'Auteuil, " she clearly demonstrated that she is one of the best clay court players in the world. I'm sure we'll have more battles " in the coming years, Gauff predicted just after her victory.

Having defeated world number 3 Jessica Pegula in the round of 16 and then the young Russian Mirra Andreeva (6th at 18 years old) in the quarter-finals, the 22-year-old player was unable to surprise a third member of the top 10 in a row but is assured of becoming the first Frenchwoman in the WTA rankings at the start of next week, around 70th place.

A consolation prize that will add to her fantastic performance at Porte d'Auteuil. By reaching the semi-finals, Boisson has simply achieved the best performance by a player who has received an invitation from the organizers since the start of the professional era in 1968.

Because if the Lyonnaise seemed at ease on the clay of Roland-Garros, she was playing her first Grand Slam final draw there, after three failures in qualifying in 2021, 2022 and 2023 and a serious injury to her left knee in the spring of 2024, which kept her away from the courts for many months.

But as all good things must come to an end, Loïs Boisson's run came to an abrupt end against the 2023 US Open winner. Never able to establish her game against the American, the Frenchwoman was dominated head and shoulders by the world number 2.

Boisson is saying goodbye to Roland-Garros for this year, but the level of play she has shown during this fortnight bodes well for the Lyon player in the coming months.