Following her knee injury, Boisson returned to the WTA Tour in April and has proven to be the surprise package of her home major after dazzling the home fans over the past two weeks with her victories over world number 31 Elise Mertens, third-ranked Jessica Pegula and now Russian Andreeva.
In a testing first set, early breaks were traded before 18-year-old Andreeva took the upper hand again.
But Boisson – who has the word ‘resilience’ tattooed on her arm – earned a crucial break back when 5-4 down.
She had three shots at set points but Andreeva held on to force the tie-break, which was subsequently won by Boisson.
After a difficult start to the second set, where Boisson was broken in her first service game and trailed 3-0, the home hope began her fight back with help from a partisan crowd chanting her name.
An aggressive forehand down the line earned a break back for 3-2 and shifted momentum firmly in her favour.
The cauldron of Court Philippe Chatrier under the roof proved too much for Andreeva to handle and her frustration spilled out on several occasions, slamming her fist into her knee and hitting a ball into the crowd.
A second break handed Boisson control of the set before she staved off two break points to win her fifth game in succession.
Cameras were at the ready when Boisson had three match points and she collapsed to the floor in delight after watching Andreeva’s forehand land the wrong side of the paint.
Aged 22 years and nine days, she is the youngest French semi-finalist in a women’s singles Grand Slam event since Amelie Mauresmo reached the same stage at Wimbledon in 1999.
