Maja Chwalinska’s fairytale run at Roland Garros reached unprecedented heights on Thursday as the Polish player became the first qualifier to reach the French Open women’s singles final and only the second player in the Open Era to make a Grand Slam singles title match after coming through qualifying.The 24-year-old defeated Russia’s Diana Shnaider 7-6 (4), 6-4 to book a showdown with teenage sensation Mirra Andreeva, who earlier beat Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk 6-1, 6-3 to reach her maiden Grand Slam final.Chwalinska joins Emma Raducanu, who won the 2021 US Open, as the only players in the Open Era since 1968 to progress from qualifying to a major singles final.
Chwalinska’s dream run continues
Chwalinska, playing only her third Grand Slam main draw, sealed victory with a thunderous forehand winner before collapsing to the clay in disbelief.“Like a dream, honestly I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know what to say, sorry,” she said during her on-court interview. “Let me enjoy this moment for now.”Her remarkable journey began in qualifying, requiring three wins just to enter the main draw. Since then, she has dropped only one set in nine matches and has beaten four top-50 players.The reward has been enormous. Ranked No. 114 before the tournament, Chwalinska could climb as high as No. 14 with the title. The prize money is equally staggering — she has already secured 1.4 million euros, far exceeding the $864,030 she had earned in her entire career before arriving in Paris.Shnaider pushed hard, but a medical timeout in the second set disrupted her rhythm and Chwalinska broke serve in the ninth game before calmly serving out the match.“All the kudos to Maja. She played amazing,” Shnaider said. “She moves incredible on the court, she covers a lot.”Andreeva’s focus pays offStanding between Chwalinska and a historic title is 19-year-old Mirra Andreeva, who produced a dominant display against Kostyuk.“I was seeing the little hairs on the ball when I was tossing or playing shots,” Andreeva said. “I was really, really focused today.”The eighth seed raced through the opening set and weathered a brief fightback in the second to extend her love affair with Roland Garros, where she reached the semifinals two years ago.The semifinal carried added tension due to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, with Kostyuk leaving the court without shaking hands and the players posing separately before the match.But the spotlight now shifts to Saturday, where two unlikely finalists — a qualifier chasing history and a teenager chasing her first major crown — will battle for the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen in what promises to be a memorable finale.
