Qualifier Maja Chwalinska Reaches French Open Final

Maja Chwalinska’s Parisian dream could have the perfect ending after the qualifier improbably reached the French Open final. The 24-year-old’s 7-6 (4) 6-4 victory over Russian Diana Shnaider on Court Philippe Chatrier was her ninth in a row at Roland Garros, and set up a final clash with eighth seed Mirra Andreeva on Saturday. Chwalinska, who is ranked No 114, 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 Emma Raducanu’s achievement in New York five years ago, when the then 18-year-old became the first qualifier to win a grand slam title. The Pole produced her best performance yet to see off 25th seed Shnaider in the semi-finals, who in 24 hours went from the high of defeating world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka to being bamboozled by a qualifier. 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.