The No. 361 Ranked Player Who Just Pulled Off One of the Biggest Upsets in Tennis

France’s Lois Boisson, ranked No. 361, celebrates winning her French Open match against world No. 3 Jessica Pegula.

When a French wild card named Lois Boisson walked onto the clay at Roland-Garros early on Monday afternoon, the stands inside Philippe-Chatrier Court were practically empty. Fans had been faced with a choice between sitting through a likely blowout or enjoying some lunch—and lunch was clearly winning.

But by the time Boisson banged home her match point, some 2 hours and 40 minutes later, every fan with a ticket had scrambled into their seats. Not only did they want to catch the last remaining French player in the men’s or women’s singles draws, word was spreading that she might pull off one of the biggest upsets in Roland-Garros history.

They arrived just in time.

Boisson, currently No. 361 in the world, took down American Jessica Pegula, ranked 358 places ahead of her, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 to book her spot in the French Open quarterfinals. Boisson, 22, is the lowest ranked player to reach a major quarterfinal since Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi at the 2017 U.S. Open.

“Once it was full, it was incredible,” Boisson said in French. “During those tight points, they got hot and it was really amazing.”

One by one, French players had crashed out of the tournament over the past week, leading to plenty of hand-wringing over the state of the country’s tennis pipeline. But with her solo charge through her first main draw at a major, Boisson is mounting this tournament’s French resistance.

Lois Boisson hits a backhand during her fourth-round victory, which has more than tripled her career earnings.

The most stunning part is that her ranking is so low that she wouldn’t have been at Roland-Garros if she hadn’t received a surprise wild card invitation. Until Monday, Boisson had never played on Chatrier and never faced a top-20 player. In fact, this time last year, she was just emerging from the hospital. She had torn knee ligaments a week before the French Open and had no idea when she might return to pro tennis.

Once she did, the right-hander from Dijon was toiling in the lower levels below the WTA circuit, hauling around Europe for the chance to earn a few thousand bucks. As recently as February year, she left a minor tournament in Manchester after two matches with exactly $462.

Now, simply by getting this far at a Grand Slam, Boisson has more than tripled her career prize money of $148,009. Even if she loses to the 18-year-old Russian talent Mirra Andreeva in the next round, she is guaranteed to finish the French Open at least half a million dollars richer.

“There’s a lot of pressure,” Boisson said. “There’s a lot of stress, because it’s Roland-Garros.”

With the French crowd behind her on Monday, Boisson hardly showed it. She relied on her speed and a spinning forehand that bounced high off the clay to keep Pegula off balance. On a different day, Pegula might have settled into her rhythm early and blown Boisson off the court—she was, after all, a U.S. Open finalist last September.

But Boisson never fell apart, even if it took her four attempts to convert a decisive break point at 4-4 in the third set.

“The match turned into exactly how she wanted to play,” Pegula said. “I had a million chances and it just didn’t go my way in those big moments.”

Jessica Pegula of the U.S. reacts during her fourth-round defeat by France’s Lois Boisson at Roland-Garros.