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Dreams collide as Andreeva and qualifier Chwalinska meet in French Open final
Qualifier Maja Chwalinska will attempt to write the perfect ending to her French Open fairy tale in an unlikely final on Saturday, but in 19-year-old Mirra Andreeva she will be up against an opponent on a roll and close to completing a Grand Slam dream of her own.
Early exits for marquee names including defending champion Coco Gauff, four-time winner Iga Swiatek and world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka opened the door for a new cast of contenders, and both Andreeva and Chwalinska have seized their chances.
After Andreeva secured a 6-1 6-3 win over Marta Kostyuk to snap her 17-match winning streak, Chwalinska downed another Russian in Diana Shnaider 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 to move just one win away from emulating Emma Raducanu's achievement at the US Open five years ago, when the then 18-year-old became the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam title.
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Roland-Garros was already guaranteed a new women's champion, and all eyes will be on Court Philippe Chatrier to witness which of the two contrasting journeys culminates in Grand Slam glory and who hoists the Suzanne Lenglen Cup on Saturday from 2pm BST.
Can Chwalinska match Raducanu?
Who is Maja Chwalinska?
Prior to the 2026 French Open, she had never beat a top 50 opponent, and now she's beaten four!
Since 2025, she's won just nine tour-level, main-draw matches - including her six wins at the 2026 French Open - as she primarily competes on the ITF circuit and WTA 125 events because of her ranking
Entering the tournament ranked No 114, she's now projected to be ranked at least No 21 for reaching the final [14 for winning it], and will be able to compete in more tour-level events
Five years ago, when Chwalinska was 19 and following a first-round qualifying defeat at the Wimbledon in 2021, she took a then-indefinite break from the sport, revealing that she had been battling depression since 2019
Chwalinska, who is ranked 114th, arrived in Paris as one of 128 players just hoping to make it through to the main draw and without ever having beaten a top-50 player.
Now she has toppled four in a row as well as Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen, and will fully believe she can match Raducanu's achievement in New York.
The Pole produced her best performance yet to see off 25th seed Shnaider, who in 24 hours went from the high of defeating Sabalenka to being bamboozled by a qualifier.
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Chwalinska has an unorthodox game based not on power but on an intelligent use of spins and angles, creating a puzzle that none of her opponents have so far been able to solve.
Maja Chwalinska's run to the French Open final
Qualifiers - first round: bt Alice Rame
6-0 6-3
Qualifiers - second round: bt Carole Monnet 6-0 6-1
Qualifiers - third round: bt Suzan Lamens
7-6 (7-4) 7-5
First round: bt Qinwen Zheng 6-4 6-0
Second round: bt [23] Elise Mertens 6-4 6-0
Third round: bt Maria Sakkari 1-6 6-3 6-2
Fourth round: bt Diane Parry 6-3 6-2
Quarter-finals: bt [22] Anna Kalinskaya
7-6 (7-3) 6-3
Semi-finals: bt [25] Diana Shnaider 7-6 (7-4) 6-4
"Like a dream," she eventually said when asked how the achievement felt. "I don't know what's going on. I don't know what to say."
The Pole admitted she is feeling the physical effects of her run but is optimistic she will be able to recover.
"I'm going to sleep, and I'm going to drink my tea," she said. "I'm going to watch something good, maybe some tennis, because I'm a tennis freak a bit. And that's it."
Chwalinska will triple her career earnings with the 1.4million euros (approximately £1.2million) she is guaranteed in prize money.
She has relied on the support of a Polish company that stepped in to pay her extended hotel bill, while she does not yet have a clothing sponsor.
Chwalinska, meanwhile, revealed a bad habit her coaching team have got into, saying: "I'm not a very superstitious person, I would say, but my coaches are. They eat pizza every day, and we are three weeks here.
"They're going to gain so much weight. It's going to be terrible. But, if they want, I can't say no. Maybe it helps."
First major final for Andreeva
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At 19, Andreeva was the youngest player left in the last four but also the most experienced having reached the same stage here two years ago.
The Russian is a prodigious talent but it is attaining a new level of emotional maturity that has helped her break fresh ground here with a first Grand Slam final appearance.
"Before, I was nervous," said Andreeva. "Now I'm also nervous when I play matches like this or when I'm up in the score and I'm serving and the opponent breaks me. Before I was thinking that, 'oh, my God, if I lost my serve, it's like the end of the world'.
"But now I feel like, if she broke me, well, so what? I will try to break her back. Because, if I get nervous when I serve, I think she also can get nervous when she serves."
Mirra Andreeva's run to the French Open final
First round: bt Fiona Ferro 6-3 6-3
Second round: bt Marina Bassols Ribera 3-6 6-1 6-1
Third round: bt [27] Marie Bouzkova 6-3 6-2
Fourth round: bt Jil Teichmann 6-3 6-2
Quarter-finals: bt [18] Sorana Cirstea 6-0 6-3
Semi-finals: def. [15] Marta Kostyuk 6-1 6-3
Under coach Conchita Martinez, Andreeva has embraced clear gameplans and steadily translated her talent into results on the biggest stages, including a run to the Roland-Garros quarter-finals 12 months ago.
While she tearfully imploded in that clash with local hope Lois Boisson and earned a warning for ball abuse after launching one into the stands in frustration, Andreeva has cut a more composed figure this year.
"I've been trying to work on being more calm, more positive. I'm very focused, and recently, I've been trying to do a lot of different stuff," Andreeva added.
"Maybe now I've found what's been working well for me, and I'm really trying to stick to that and do it every match that I play every time. So far it's been working very well."
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