Maja Chwalinska reaches French Open final as qualifier

The eighth-ranked Andreeva ended the run of 114th-ranked Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska in the French Open final on Saturday.

Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva ended the run of 114th-ranked Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska to win the French Open and her first Grand Slam title on Saturday.

Mirra Andreeva dominated a drained Maja Chwalinska with a straight-sets victory in the 2026 French Open women's singles final Saturday in Paris.

The 19-year-old has long been tipped as a future major winner and she fulfilled her potential with an impressively composed performance

Mirra Andreeva won her first Grand Slam title on Saturday by downing Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska in straight sets in the French Open final.Defeat at the final hurdle brought to an end an astonishing run which started in qualifying for Chwalinska, who won nine matches in the French capital to become the first qualifier to reach the final in the Open era.

Maja Chwalinska could not apply the fairytale ending to her French Open Cinderella story as teenager Mirra Andreeva claimed her first Grand Slam title on Saturday. The 19-year-old’s 6-3, 6-2 victory makes her the youngest women’s champion in Paris since Monica Seles back in 1992 and the first Russian to win a major singles trophy since the invasion of Ukraine four years ago.

Teenager Mirra Andreeva fulfills her huge potential with a first Grand Slam title as Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska is denied a fairytale French Open victory.

Russian, 19, beats qualifier 6-3, 6-2 for first slam title Poland’s Chwalinska fails to emulate Raducanu’s feats Twenty minutes into the first grand slam final of her young career, it looked like Mirra Andreeva’s head was already in danger of exiting Court Philippe-Chatrier. Between the weight of such a potentially career-defining occasion, the excruciating windy conditions and a resourceful opponent seemingly built to cause her maximum anguish, Andreeva looked crippled by tension. Her reaction to the surrounding pressure underlined the work Andreeva has put into addressing her emotional vulnerabilities. She maintained her composure at all costs, coolly problem-solving and then eventually flourishing after a tense start as she ended the qualifier Maja Chwalinska’s historic run with a 6-3, 6-2 victory to capture her first grand slam at Roland Garros. Continue reading...

Teenager Mirra Andreeva fulfills her huge potential with a first Grand Slam title as Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska is denied a fairytale French Open victory.

Game-by-game final updates from 2pm UK time Chwalinska stuns Shnaider in historic semi-final upset You can email Katy | Sign up for The Hotspot Salut! The teenage prodigy vs the 24-year-old qualifier and 500-1 outsider; as paths to a first grand slam final go, Mirra Andreeva’s and Maja Chwalinska’s couldn’t be more different. Andreeva, having burst on to the WTA Tour as the most precocious of 15-year-olds in 2023, before reaching the French Open semi-finals in 2024, has long been tipped for major glory, and now, aged 19, the Russian appears to be finding the temperament to add to her tremendous talents and take that final step. Continue reading...

Brilliant defensive skills and craft have propelled world No 114 from qualifying into Roland Garros final but Mirra Andreeva has the game to match The summer of 2022 took Maja Chwalinska to the familiar surroundings of the Bank of England Sports Club in Roehampton. A world away from the real thing, the then world No 170 worked her way through three gruelling Wimbledon qualifying matches against players ranked outside the top 150 to successfully make it to the main draw. She then marked her long-awaited appearance in the grounds of the All England Club with a big win over the world No 79 Katerina Siniakova before being dismantled in two sets in her second-round match. For the past four years, that solitary main-draw victory was the pinnacle of Chwalinska’s career at the biggest events. The only other time the Pole qualified for a grand slam, the Australian Open last year, she was thrashed 6-0, 6-1 by Jule Niemeier, the world No 93, in the first round. She has failed to make it out of the preliminary rounds on 12 occasions and there have even been times over the past few years when her ranking dropped so low that she was unable to enter qualifying. Continue reading...

There is a particular kind of audacity that belongs to players who arrive at a Grand Slam through the back door and refuse to leave quietly. On Thursday at Roland Garros, Maja Chwalinska slammed that door wide open. The 24-year-old Polish left-hander, who entered the 2026 French Open ranked 114th in the world and had …

Sipping tea every night has helped Maja Chwalinska of Poland become just the second qualifier to reach a Grand Slam singles final in the Open Era. She did so by beating Diana Shnaider of Russia 7-6 (4), 6-4. The 24-year-old Chwalinska can match Emma Raducanu’…