The most watched in 25 years! Lois Boisson's semifinal clash captivates record Roland Garros audience

The match between Lois Boisson and Coco Gauff was the most-watched women's match at Roland Garros since the year 2000, averaging over 5.37 million viewers and peaking at 6.4 million on official television broadcasts. The 22-year-old Frenchwoman captured widespread attention with a historic campaign at the tournament.

Boisson was an unknown name on the Tour until a couple of weeks ago, receiving a wildcard from the organization as world No. 361, and delivered the best performance by a local female player in 14 years.

Boisson secured a climb of nearly 300 spots in the WTA Ranking, and will reach world No. 65 starting next Monday. Along the way, the local surprise defeated two top-10 rivals: first Jessica Pegula (No. 3) and then Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva (No. 6), both title contenders in Paris. She ultimately fell to Coco Gauff 1-6, 2-6 in the semifinals.

According to Mediametrie, the match against Gauff achieved historic numbers for a French Open women's match in terms of television broadcasts. It was watched by 5.37 million viewers – a 42.7% audience share – with a peak of 6.4 million, numbers not seen since the year 2000.

She had already set a significant precedent in the quarterfinals when she defeated Andreeva, with a total of 3.3 million viewers on Wednesday, June 4.

Boisson's campaign generated high anticipation among the local public, who had been waiting for over a decade for such a remarkable performance from one of their representatives.

The last time a local player had reached the semifinals at Roland Garros was back in 2011, when Marion Bartoli reached the semifinals, falling to Francesca Schiavone. At that time, Bartoli was having her best major campaign, as the 11th seed. The same former No. 1 later achieved her best Grand Slam performance two years later at Wimbledon 2013, where she secured her only major title, defeating Sabine Lisicki in the final.