Qualifier Maja Chwalinska reaches French Open final, will face Mirra Andreeva for the title

Chwalinska's historic run

Maja Chwalinska made French Open history on Thursday, becoming the first qualifier in the professional era to reach the Roland Garros final. The 24-year-old Pole, ranked 114th in the world, defeated Diana Shnaider 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 in two hours and 10 minutes on Court Philippe Chatrier. Chwalinska is only the second qualifier, man or woman, to reach a Grand Slam singles final in the Open Era, after Emma Raducanu's title run at the 2021 US Open.

Like a dream, honestly I don't know what's going on. I don't know what to say, sorry. Let me enjoy this moment for now.

Chwalinska had won only one match in her two previous Grand Slam appearances, at Wimbledon in 2022, and just two tour-level matches on clay before Roland Garros. Her campaign in Paris began with three rounds of qualifying and has now stretched to nine matches, with only one set dropped. En route to the final, she eliminated Olympic gold medallist Zheng Qinwen, 23rd seed Elise Mertens, former world number three Maria Sakkari, Diane Parry, and 22nd seed Anna Kalinskaya.

Andreeva dominates Kostyuk

Earlier on Thursday, 19-year-old Mirra Andreeva raced into her first Grand Slam final with a commanding 6-1, 6-3 victory over Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk. The match lasted one hour and 16 minutes. Andreeva, the world number eight, was a semifinalist at Roland Garros in 2024 and has now surpassed that career-best result.

For me, this is the number one goal of my life, the most important thing, my biggest dream. I didn't believe I could be so close one day. When I was in Siberia in the past I couldn't imagine that something like this would happen.

Kostyuk, ranked 15th, had been undefeated on clay this season before the semifinal, with 16 straight wins on the surface. She had used her platform during the tournament to draw attention to the impact of the Russian war on Ukraine, but said before the match that she was focused solely on tennis.

The semifinal turning point

Chwalinska's match against Shnaider was tightly contested through the first set, which lasted one hour and 17 minutes before the Pole took it in a tie-break. The second set was level until Shnaider, who had eliminated world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the quarterfinals, called for a medical timeout at 4-3 to receive treatment on her back. After the stoppage, Chwalinska won the next three games to seal the victory on her first match point with a forehand winner down the line.

Chwalinska played unreal, and she definitely deserved this win today and to be in the final.

What's at stake

Saturday's final guarantees a first-time Grand Slam champion. Chwalinska is projected to climb to at least a career-high number 21 in the rankings, and would rise to number 14 with a title. Her prize money for reaching the final is 1.4 million euros (about $1.6 million), with 2.8 million euros ($3.25 million) awaiting the winner. Andreeva, with 35 wins already this season (the most on the WTA Tour) and a 21-3 record on clay, enters as the higher-ranked player but faces an opponent riding an extraordinary wave of momentum.