Coco Gauff defeats Loďs Boisson
6-1, 6-2 to reach her second French Open final
[June 06, 2025]
By HOWARD FENDRICH
PARIS (AP) — As popular as Coco Gauff is, she knew full well that
nearly all of the 15,000 fans at Court Philippe-Chatrier would be
against her during the French Open semifinals Thursday. That's
because Gauff, an American, was taking on a French opponent — and
one who came from nowhere, 361st-ranked Loďs Boisson.
So the No. 2-seeded Gauff turned to a trick that 24-time major
champion Novak Djokovic has talked about using: When the partisan
crowd was loudly singing Boisson's first name, Gauff pretended they
were chanting “Coco!” Not that it mattered much, truly, because
Gauff was by far the superior player throughout a 6-1, 6-2 victory
that earned her a second trip to the final at Roland-Garros.
Three years ago, Gauff missed out on a chance to leave with the
trophy when Iga Swiatek beat her. This time, Swiatek won't be around
for the championship match on Saturday, because her 26-match
unbeaten run at the clay-court Grand Slam tournament ended earlier
Thursday with a 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-0 loss to No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka.
Sabalenka vs. Gauff will be the first No. 1 vs. No. 2 final in Paris
since 2013, when Serena Williams defeated Maria Sharapova, and just
the second in the last 30 years.
Sabalenka, a 27-year-old from Belarus who owns three major titles,
and Gauff have split their 10 previous matchups evenly. Gauff's
first Grand Slam title came via a win against Sabalenka in the 2023
U.S. Open final; Sabalenka won their most recent encounter, on a
clay court at the Madrid Open a month ago.
“Anything can happen on Saturday,” Gauff said. “But I’m looking
forward to it, and glad to be going up against a world No. 1, too.”
Gauff, a 21-year-old from Florida, figures to hear at least the
occasional “Allez, Coco!” while meeting Sabalenka.
But that wasn't really in the offing against Boisson, who beat No. 3
Jessica Pegula and No. 6 Mirra Andreeva while becoming the first
woman since 1989 to get all the way to the semifinals in her first
Grand Slam tournament.
It's been a quarter-century since a woman representing France won
the singles title at Roland-Garros — Mary Pierce in 2000 — so
Boisson became front-page news. The flags flapping in the stands,
and the raucous applause and yells accompanying each point Boisson
won, were hard to miss.
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Winner Coco Gauff of the U.S., left, and France's Lois Boisson shake
hands after their semifinal match of the French Tennis Open at the
Roland-Garros stadium in Paris, Thursday, June 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien
Morissard)
“I was mentally prepared before the match that it
was going to be 99% for her. But I just tried to block it out,”
Gauff told the spectators during her on-court interview, laughing as
she explained her thought process. “And actually, when you guys were
chanting her name, I was saying to myself my name. Just to kind of
psych myself out. You have to do that.”
Then she added: “I know you guys would usually root for me if I'm
not playing a French (foe).”
Gauff never really allowed the atmosphere to become much of a
factor, because she took Boisson out of the match from the get-go,
grabbing 20 of the first 30 points to lead 4-0.
As much as Boisson's game is fit for clay, Gauff is rather adept on
the slower surface, too. Her speed and reflexes allow her to track
down shot after shot, elongating points and making the player across
the net come up with the goods over and over.
Boisson finished with just seven winners. And Gauff made only 15
unforced errors, fewer than half of Boisson's total of 33.
When the exchanges grew longer, Gauff got better. She won 34 of 51
points that lasted five strokes or more.
“I couldn’t play my game today,” Boisson said, “because she was just
too good.”
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