Luck of the draw and support. Of course, Maja Chwalinska has achieved extraordinary things so far. As a qualifier in a Grand Slam final – only Emma Raducanu has achieved that so far. But her opponents on the way there weren’t all from the top shelf.
We know this sports phenomenon. You beat a superstar, and in the next match you lose to one Nobody. Happens all the time. And also happened at this French Open. Ask Jan-Lennard Struff, known as Struffi, who surprisingly took the top 10 player Alexander Bublik out of the tournament at the start, only to quietly fail a round later to the unseeded Portuguese Jaime Faria.
No top 20 players heading to the final
What does this have to do with Maja Chwalinska? Well, on her way from qualifying to the final of the French Open she had to deal with nothing but trouble. So with players from the lower shelf who had previously thrown out the top stars. Chwalinska’s biggest hurdle in the entire tournament was the number 22 seed Anna Kalinskaja. Not a single top 10 player, not even a top 20 player crossed her path to the final.
How can that be? As I said, luck of the draw and help. It started with the luck of the draw. As a qualifier in the first round, it was not one of the 32 seeded players who was chosen, but rather the Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng, who has since fallen in the world rankings and was unable to play tennis for months due to a persistent elbow injury. The Chinese is still a long way from her old strength, conceded 0:6 in the second set and burst into tears at the press conference.
The others do the job
In the second round, her opponent was Elise Mertens, seeded 23rd, a good singles player but an even better doubles player. Chwalinska also gave her a 6-0 win and the reward was round 3. And there the first Struffi was waiting. The unseeded Greek Maria Sakkari had previously surprisingly thrown the 12th seeded and in-form Czech Linda Noskova out of the tournament, Chwalinska said “Thank you for that“ and beat Sakkari in three sets.
The second week began and the unknown qualifier Maja Chwalinska was still there. Round of 16. Here she actually should have gotten rid of the first really big chunk, Amanda Anisimova, number six in the world rankings. But nothing came of it, because the Frenchwoman Diane Parry had already done the job in three exhausting sets in the previous round. The local hero, number 92 in the world rankings, was no longer able to build on her sensational performance against Anisimova against Chwalinska and went swimming without much resistance.
Mother of all struffies
Chwalinska, on the other hand, continued to move forward. In the quarterfinals she met the aforementioned Anna Kalinskaja, number 22 on the seed list. According to the tournament tree, defending champion Coco Gauff should normally have been at this point, but what was normal at this French Open? Gauff was sent home in the third round by Anastasia Potapova, who then had her Struffi moment in the round of 16 against Kalinskaya. Chwalinska continued to watch the favorites around her from a distance, beat Kalinskaja in two sets and was in the semi-finals.
And that brings us to the ultimate classic. Basically the mother of all struffies. Diana Shnaider, seed number 25, sensationally defeated the overwhelming world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the quarterfinals. And then loses in the semifinals against a qualifier. Unbelievable. But that’s exactly how it happened that Maja Chwalinska is in the final of Roland Garros, with luck and with help. But whoever makes it that far deserves it. Either way. In the final, Mirra Andreeva actually has her first top 10 opponent waiting. It would be a sensation if she beat them. She’s already a tournament sensation.