Loïs Boisson has fallen on hard times. The top French player, back on the circuit for a month after a long injury, was defeated on Tuesday in the second round of the WTA 500 in Strasbourg, beaten by Canadian Victoria Mboko (N.9) 6-4, 6-3. Mboko will face her compatriot Leylah Fernandez in the quarterfinals, who defeated the Polish player Magda Frech (6-4, 3-6, 6-4).
Boisson, a surprise semifinalist last year at Roland-Garros, faced her first top 10 opponent on the Alsatian clay since returning to the courts. A week before the French Open, facing the finalist of the Australian Open, full of confidence at the start of the season, the 23-year-old Savoyard native (43rd in the world) never took the lead, but fought bravely after losing her service games early in both sets.
She managed to break the Canadian’s serve in the fourth game of the first set to level at 2-2, but then lost her serve immediately after. Broken in the first game of the second set, the French player never recovered, despite putting up a good fight.
A Victory in 2026
After three consecutive defeats since returning at the end of April, Boisson claimed her first victory of the year on Sunday in Strasbourg by defeating Chinese player Wang Xinyu 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) in the first round. She had not won a match since September.
Affected successively in the left leg and then in the right arm, she stayed away from the circuit for seven months, between her withdrawal in late September at the WTA 1000 in Beijing and her return last month in Madrid.
