Maja Chwalinska’s fairytale run as a qualifier continues to the French Open final, where she will face teenage sensation Mirra Andreeva on Saturday. The 24-year-old Pole has become the first qualifier in the Open Era to reach the women’s singles final at Roland-Garros, a feat that seemed almost unthinkable during the darkest days of her battle with depression.
The fairytale of Maja Chwalinska
Chwalinska, ranked world No. 114, had won just two Grand Slam matches before arriving in Paris. She booked her place in the showpiece on Court Philippe-Chatrier with a 7-6(4) 6-4 victory over Diana Shnaider, the Russian who had stunned Aryna Sabalenka in the quarter-finals. Against the 25th seed, Chwalinska powered 32 winners in a dominant display that has made her a favourite with the French crowd, who chanted her name during her on-court interview.
Her path to the final has been a catalogue of upsets. She stunned Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng — who won gold at Roland-Garros in 2024 — in her opening match, then dispatched 23rd seed Elise Mertens in the second round. She showed remarkable spirit to come from behind and beat former world No. 3 Maria Sakkari in the third round, and has improved with every match.
Yet the journey to this point has been anything but straightforward. Chwalinska, born on 11 October 2001 in Dąbrowa Górnicza, Poland, began playing tennis at seven and showed early promise. She won European U14 and U16 doubles titles with Iga Świątek and reached the final of the 2017 Australian Open junior doubles. But after turning professional in 2016, the pressures of the tour took a heavy toll.
At the age of 19, in 2021, she took an 18-month break from the sport, having been open about her struggles with depression. She described associating tennis with “pressure, stress, and crying”, experienced dark thoughts, and found it difficult even to leave the house. She considered retiring from the sport altogether, she has said. Before this tournament she had lost 12 of her 14 Grand Slam qualifying appearances.
Her comeback has been gradual, prioritising her well-being over rankings. Central to her resurgence has been her coach, Jaroslav Machovsky, with whom she has worked since 2020. Their relationship has been described as father-daughter-like, with Machovsky helping her rebuild both her game and her confidence. Chwalinska’s career-high ranking of world No. 113 was achieved only on 4 May this year, and her best previous Grand Slam performance was reaching the second round of Wimbledon in 2022.
Off the court, her run has already brought a significant financial reward. Her career prize money stood at $841,000 before the tournament; reaching the final has ensured she will earn at least €750,000 from Roland-Garros’s record-breaking prize fund. Her estimated net worth is between $500,000 and $1 million.
Mirra Andreeva: a teenager on the rise
Standing across the net on Saturday will be Mirra Andreeva, a 19-year-old Russian who has already established herself as one of the most exciting talents in the game. Born on 29 April 2007 in Krasnoyarsk, Andreeva now resides in Cannes, France. She began playing tennis at age six, became a former world No. 1 junior, and reached the final of the Australian Open girls’ singles in 2023 before turning professional in 2022.
Andreeva’s development has been guided by coach Conchita Martínez, the former Wimbledon champion and world No. 2. Martínez, who previously coached Garbiñe Muguruza and Karolína Plíšková, took over at the start of the 2024 clay season and has been credited with keeping the teenager grounded while pushing her towards her potential. Under Martínez, Andreeva’s ranking climbed to a career-high of world No. 5 in July 2025.
Andreeva reached her first Grand Slam final by defeating Marta Kostyuk 6-1 6-3 in the semi-finals. Her path included a quarter-final victory over Aryna Sabalenka, and she has been the youngest player left in the draw since Iva Jovic. Notably, there was no post-match handshake after the semi-final; Kostyuk left the court quickly in a tense atmosphere fuelled by fans displaying Ukrainian flags.
This is Andreeva’s second semi-final appearance at Roland-Garros after she fell to Jasmine Paolini at the same stage in 2024 as a 17-year-old. She made her French Open debut in 2023 as a 16-year-old qualifier, reaching the third round, and followed that with a quarter-final run in 2025. She has now broken Coco Gauff’s record for the most French Open match wins by a teenager in the 21st century, with 16 main-draw victories in Paris.
Andreeva already has five WTA Tour singles titles to her name, including two WTA 1000 events (Dubai and Indian Wells in 2025). She also won the doubles silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics alongside Diana Shnaider — the same player Chwalinska defeated in the semi-finals — and has two WTA 1000 doubles titles. Her career earnings exceed $9.3 million.
A final for the history books
Both players are chasing rare milestones. Chwalinska will aim to become only the second qualifier in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam singles title, after Emma Raducanu’s victory at the 2021 US Open. Andreeva, meanwhile, becomes the third-youngest female player to reach the final on the Parisian clay, following in the footsteps of Kim Clijsters and Coco Gauff. Should she win, she would become the third-youngest major champion in history, after Maria Sharapova and Raducanu.
Chwalinska’s success also places her among Poland’s top tennis stars alongside Iga Świątek, with whom she once won junior doubles titles. The final will be a meeting of two players who have overcome very different obstacles: one who rebuilt her life after the depths of depression, and another who has risen through the junior ranks with stunning speed. Their showdown on Saturday will decide which name is inscribed on the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen.
