Day 7 preview: French wild cards aim for rare second-week run at Roland Garros

A pair of 22-year-old French wild cards will face off for a spot in the fourth round, while Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula and Madison Keys return to action in a stacked bottom half of the draw.

There’s something stirring about le bleu, blanc et rouge, the crisp, clean format of the French tricolor flag.

Three French wild cards won their first-round matches in the bottom half of the draw and were seeking national attention at Roland Garros on Thursday with a berth in the third round.

Against great odds, a pair of 22-year-olds flew their flags and got through.

Roland Garros: Scores | Order of play | Draw

Here’s a snapshot of their stories:

No. 361 Lois Boisson

Last match: Defeated Anhelina Kalinina 6-1, 6-2

Born in Dijon -- home of the world-famous mustard -- Boisson made her WTA debut in Lyon in 2021 after receiving a doubles wild card. She notched her first WTA 125 title last year in Saint-Malo, a result that helped push her into the Top 200. A wild card into last year’s French Open was cut short by a knee injury, but the payoff came this week: Boisson knocked out No. 24 seed Elise Mertens in the opening round, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

No. 138 Elsa Jacquemot

Last match: Defeated Alycia Parks 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-2

Jacquemot started playing tennis at age 3 and became Roland Garros junior champion in 2020, the first Frenchwoman to win the title since Kristina Mladenovic in 2009. She made her Grand Slam debut here in Paris three years ago and has since played Wimbledon and reached the Round of 16 at WTA events in Merida and Prague.

One of them is guaranteed to reach the fourth round -- because they’re playing each other.

“It’s in France,” Jacquemot told reporters. “It’s in Roland, so it makes me happy. For both of us, it’s our first third round in a Grand Slam. There are lots of things to manage.

“I’m playing against a French player who is the same age as me. So a French tennis player will be winning. I hope it will be me.”

Let’s take a closer look at Thursday’s other matches:

No. 2 Coco Gauff vs. Marie Bouzkova

Head-to-head: 2-0, Bouzkova, winning at Cincinnati in 2022 and Rome a year later.

Matchups are everything in tennis. Iga Swiatek is a five-time Grand Slam champion, but she’s 0-for-6 against Jelena Ostapenko, a one-time major winner. Likewise -- albeit with a much smaller sample size -- Bouzkova has had Gauff’s number.

But there is an asterisk. Gauff, then 18, rolled an ankle in that first set at Cincinnati and eventually retired 7-5, 1-0. In their only previous match on clay, Gauff won the first set, before Bouzkova rallied to win 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. Bouzkova did not face a break point the last two sets.

Gauff’s serve was spotty in a 6-2, 6-4 win over Czech Republic qualifier Tereza Valentova. She was broken five times by the 18-year-old. She will have to be better against Bouzkova.

Underlining her consistency on clay, Gauff has now reached the third round at Roland Garros for five consecutive years, the first to do that since Maria Sharapova from 2004-08.

Bouzkova was a 6-1, 6-4 winner over Sonay Kartal.

No. 3 Jessica Pegula vs. Marketa Vondrousova

Head-to-head: 1-0, Vondrousova, a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 quarterfinal win at 2023 Wimbledon on her way to her first Grand Slam singles title.

It’s been a long slog for Vondrousova since winning at Wimbledon and moving into the Top 10. Shoulder and arm injuries caused her to shut down the second half of last season, and an aborted comeback left her rehabbing for the past three months.

She was ranked No. 96 upon her arrival in Paris but has put together two nice wins, the most recent a three-setter over No. 25 seed Magdalena Frech. It’s easy to forget she was a finalist here in 2019.

Pegula, meanwhile, was a 6-3, 7-6 (3) winner over Ann Li.

“I know she likes the clay,” Pegula said of Vondrousova. “I know always tough playing a lefty on clay. She’s kind of got a spinny forehand. Really creative on the court and dropshots a lot. Has a pretty good serve.

“She obviously knows how to play good tennis here at Roland Garros. I think that’s going to be the trickiest part for me.”

No. 6 Mirra Andreeva vs. No. 32 Yulia Putintseva

Head-to-head: 0-0.

While the focus will be on 18-year-old Andreeva, a semifinalist here last year, Putintseva loves to play at Roland Garros.

The 30-year-old from Kazakhstan is 19-11 at the French Open -- her most wins in a major -- and was a quarterfinalist in 2016 and 2018. Putintseva defeated qualifier Joanna Garland 7-6 (5), 6-3 to get here.

Andreeva was down an early break to Ashlyn Krueger before winning 6-3, 6-4 in 73 minutes.

No. 7 Madison Keys vs. No. 31 Sofia Kenin

Head-to-head: 3-1, Keys. Kenin won their only match on clay, in three sets nine years ago in Rome, while Keys has won the past three -- all on hard courts.

Keys was a 6-1, 6-3 winner over Katie Boulter, making her 9-for-9 this year in Grand Slam matches. This is her 13th appearance at Roland Garros. Her best finish was the semifinals in 2018. Keys was the champion last year on the red clay in Strasbourg, her first clay title.

Kenin defeated Victoria Azarenka 7-6 (5) 6-4 and looked sharp doing it. She’s a former finalist here, in 2020, the same year she won the Australian Open. Kenin has won 19 matches so far this year, nine of them on clay.

No. 10 Paula Badosa vs. No. 17 Daria Kasatkina

Head-to-head: 3-3, with a split on clay. Badosa won 6-1, 6-1 two years ago in Stuttgart, while Kasatkina prevailed 6-4, 6-4 three years ago in Rome.

Badosa, who has never failed to reach the third round here, did so for the fifth time, coming back to beat Elena-Gabriela Ruse 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Badosa, suffering from a fever, converted five of six break points in a 2-hour, 20-minute match.

“She’s been many years Top 10, Top 20,” Badosa said of Kasatkina. “She’s a very physical player. She likes to play with a lot of tactics. We know each other pretty well. Let's see how it goes.”

Kasatkina was a 6-4, 6-2 winner over French wild card Leolia Jeanjean. Making her 10th appearance at Roland Garros, Kasatkina went as far as the semifinals in 2022 and the quarters four years earlier.

Other notable matches:

No. 20 Ekaterina Alexandrova vs. Veronika Kudermetova

Hailey Baptiste vs. Jessica Bouzas Maneiro

Wild card Elsa Jacquemot vs. wild card Lois Boisson

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