Coco Gauff silenced the 15,000-strong Court Philippe-Chatrier crowd with a ruthless display against French wildcard Lois Boisson. The world No. 361 stormed into the semi-final of her home tournament on her Grand Slam debut, but Gauff sent her packing 6-1 6-2.

Boisson had already stunned two top-10 players in Jessica Pegula and Mirra Andreeva, who struggled in the hostile environment. But Gauff never looked bothered by the heavy cheers for her opponent and won the French fans back over by telling them: “When you guys were chanting her name, I was saying to myself my name!”

Coming into Thursday’s semi-final, the 2022 runner-up was well aware that the overwhelming majority of spectators would be loudly backing Boisson, but she didn’t mind.

Gauff got off to the perfect start, crushing the French crowd’s spirits as she raced into a 4-0 lead. The American never really gave them, or Boisson, anything to sink their teeth into and dropped only three games in the 72-minute match.

Afterwards, the 21-year-old shared the secret to blocking out the noise of Boisson’s home crowd. “This is my first time playing a French player here actually in this tournament maybe that I can remember,” she said.

“How I managed? I mean, I was mentally prepared before the match that it was going to be 99 per cent for her.

“I just tried to block it out and, actually, when you guys were chanting her name I was saying to myself my name! Just to kind of psych myself up. You have to do that!”

After bursting out laughing, Gauff composed herself and shared her appreciation for the Roland Garros fans.

She added: “I think it’s an incredible atmosphere to play in front of this crowd regardless if they’re for me or not. I know you guys would usually root for me if I’m not playing a French [player] so I love you guys still!”

“It’s always the plan to try to start strong but I knew it was important today,” Gauff explained.

“Lois is obviously an incredible player and for her to have the tournament that she had, she definitely proved she's one of the best players in the world especially on clay. I’m sure we will have many more battles in the future, hopefully here.

“I know you guys wanted her to win but I wanted to win as well! Congratulations to her for an incredible tournament and today just happened to be my day.”

It will be a battle of the top two seeds in Saturday’s final as Gauff takes on world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka. The Belarusian won their recent meeting in the Madrid Open final but Gauff beat her in the championship match at the US Open a couple of years ago.

Sabalenka has never made it this far at the French Open while the 21-year-old reached the final three years ago, losing to Iga Swiatek, and she hopes to draw on that experience.

Gauff said: “It definitely will help me. I was super nervous going into that final.

“Obviously, I’m playing Aryna, it’s going to be a tough match but overall I think I’m just really proud of myself. There’s still a lot more work to do but I’m just going to enjoy this one and tomorrow I’ll start the preparation for the final.”