Out of all the quarter-finalists at Roland Garros, the most unknown name (unless you read that story about the deodorant) is Loïs Boisson. The only player representing France in men's and women's singles at the French Open, Boisson entered the tournament as a wild card, invited by French Tennis Federation (FFT) and has surprised everyone by reaching quarter-finals, with the luck of avoiding some heavyweights like Sabalenka, Swiatek or Americans Gauff and Keys.
Born in May 2003, Boisson entered the tournament ranked 361. After the match, regardless of what she does in the quarter-finals, she will improve her best ever position (World No. 152, in May 2024, after she won her first and only WTA title in Saint-Malo, with 125 points. She is the lowest-ranked player to reach Roland Garros quarter-finals in 40 years, the second wild card to manage to reach this far, and the lowest-ranked in any of the four Grand Slams since Kaia Kanepi at US Open 2017 (418).
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Boisson's run at Roland Garros 2025 is also a story of overcoming difficulties, as she was slated to receive a wildcard entry, but torn her ACL a week before, and was side-lined for nearly a year. "I was going to play the tournaments that I have dreamed of since I started playing tennis. In the space of a week I went from 'collapsed' to the ground, the joy of winning my first WTA title, to 'collapsed' to the ground because my knee gave out and the pain was immense", she posted at the time.
In round of 16, she eliminated Jessica Pegula, World No. 3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Her next rival will be another of the breakthroughs of the year, Mirra Andreeva, recently turned 18, who reached the top 10 for the first time this year, being the youngest player to win a WTA 1,000 (Dubai in February 2025).