How far can Kristina Mladenovic lead her legion of French fans?

The tennis fans of France love to make their presence felt, and they succeeded on Sunday at Roland Garros. While their countrywoman Kristina "Kiki" Mladenovic duked it out with defending champion Garbiñe Muguruza over three rousing sets, the crowd in Court Suzanne Lenglen roared and chanted and foot-stamped their support for their player. This time, unlike hundreds of times before at this tournament, their efforts paid off.

Mladenovic won the see-saw slugfest. 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. As Muguruza walked off, an announcer encouraged the crowd, which had booed her at times, to give her a hand. Her finger wag in response told you all you needed to know about what she thought of them.

Fairness is not the French fans’ forte, or primary concern. Drama is; the more they can whip up, the better. That can be tough on the players, but if you’ve ever watched a match at Roland Garros where a player from France is involved, you’ll never forget it. The spectators at the Australian Open are enthusiastic; at Wimbledon, they’re respectful; at the U.S. Open, they’re uninhibited. Only at Roland Garros do you feel like a tennis match might turn into a real live riot at any moment. Suzanne Lenglen is the court where Roger Federer finally had to scream “Shut up!” at the crowd. And they were rooting for him.

Many French players over the years have felt Federer’s pain. The intensity of the fan support in Paris can feel suffocating, and it certainly hasn’t produced anything in the way of results. The only male player from France to win at Roland Garros in the Open era is Yannick Noah in 1983; the only woman to do it is Mary Pierce in 2000, and she was born in Canada and raised in the United States. The last few years have been littered with spectacular French flameouts: Richard Gasquet losing from two sets up to Andy Murray in 2010 and Stan Wawrinka in 2013; Gael Monfils doing the same against Tommy Robredo in 2013; Jo-Wilfried Tsonga covering his head with a towel after blowing match points against Novak Djokovic in 2012.

If anything, it has been worse on the women’s side, where title contenders have been few and far between. Amelie Mauresmo, the last WTA No. 1 from France, won the Australian Open and Wimbledon, but never made it past the quarterfinals at Roland Garros. I was reminded of Mauresmo’s anxiety-filled appearances on Court Philippe Chatrier when Mladenovic began her first-rounder there this year. One of the tour’s most improved players of 2017, she had come to Paris looking like a potential champion. But she quickly dropped the first set to 88th-ranked Jennifer Brady, and had to leave the court to get treatment on her back. Mladenovic had never been past the third round in Paris; this time it looked like she would be lucky to finish a match.

But Mladenovic did finish against Brady, and she survived, 9-7 in the third set. Then she survived against another American player, Shelby Rogers, 8-6 in the third. By the end of that one, Mladenovic no longer looked suffocated by the audience or scared of trying to live up to their expectations. Instead, with her pirouetting first-pumps, her cries of “Forza!”—Italian for “force”—and her Wawrinka-esque index finger to her temple, she was a general leading her army into battle, a gladiator at the center of the colosseum.

Mladenovic led them again on Sunday, and the atmosphere in Lenglen was even more frenzied and intimidating. Maybe because of that, her play was better, too. Mladenovic ran around her forehand and hit winners to both corners, and she attacked Muguruza’s serve. But she played patiently when she needed to, rallying conservatively from the backhand side until an opportunity presented itself. Unlike the stylishly finesse-oriented Mauresmo, Mladenovic, with her two-handed backhand and heavy forehand, has the power to hit through the red clay and take a match into her own hands.

Right now, she’s feeling that power like never before. After Muguruza’s final ground-stroke found the net, a tearful Mladenovic blew kisses to her Lenglen legion and led them in the Wave.

“You’re making me cry,” she said. “...I wanted to say, I know I always say the same thing, but I love playing in front of you...It’s thanks to you that I’m through and we’re in the quarters.”

Not surprisingly, Mladenovic’s theatrics didn’t go over as well with her opponent as they did with the crowd. Asked later how she felt about Kiki’s cries of “Forza!” after her unforced errors, Muguruza began to cry herself, before saying, “I heard she speaks like 25 languages, so...”

The audience’s boos for Muguruza were unsavory, but Mladenovic’s boldness may be what she needs to finally end the French drought. The three other players left in her half of the draw are Jelena Ostapenko, Caroline Wozniacki and Mladenovic’s quarterfinal opponent, Timea Bacsinszky. One of them will reach the final; that’s a big opportunity. If they can, the tournament directors may want to keep Mladenovic in Lenglen, where her army is close and the surface is quicker.

Opportunities have knocked for French players before in Paris, and their high-wire acts across Roland Garros have a way of not ending well. Tsonga and Monfils have gone deep there multiple times, only to come crashing back to earth in the end. For now, though, Mladenovic, far from being unnerved by the support, has embraced it. Her opponents may not want to hear it, but she’s only going to win the title if she keeps the “Forza!” with her.

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