Who’s Lois Boisson, the new darling of French tennis?

Who is Lois Boisson? Unless you’re a tennis aficionado, you might not have heard of her. A relative unknown, she burst into the spotlight after storming into the French Open semifinals with a string of giant-killing performances. That run made Boisson the darling of Roland Garros, as no Frenchwoman had reached the last four in Paris since Marion Bartoli in 2011.

Nobody — not even Boisson — expected her to emulate Bartoli. But that changed over 10 days.

Boisson came into the French Open ranked No. 361. The French wildcard had won just one match on the WTA Tour and had never beaten a player ranked inside the top 90 — let alone faced a top-50 opponent. But none of that seemed to faze her.

The 22-year-old from Dijon quickly became the toast of France, defeating three seeded players, including two in the top 10: Jessica Pegula and Mirra Andreeva. She had earlier knocked out 24th seed Elise Mertens. Boisson went on to become the lowest-ranked Grand Slam semifinalist in 40 years and only the third player since 1989 to reach the last four in her debut major, joining Monica Seles and Jennifer Capriati.

Her Cinderella run ended in the semifinals, outplayed by Coco Gauff despite the roaring crowd support on Philippe Chatrier Court. Boisson may have lost, but she gained so much over those two weeks. For reaching the semifinals, she is expected to jump at least 300 spots in the rankings, landing around No. 65 in the world.

She entered the French Open as the 24th-ranked woman in France. She leaves it as the nation’s new No. 1 — a just reward for her hard work and fearless tennis.