Maja Chwalinska\u2019s dream French Open run went on as she beat Diana Shnaider in straight sets on Thursday to reach the final in Paris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 24-year-old had only won one Grand Slam main-draw match before this tournament, and had never reached a WTA Tour semi-final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During her win over Shnaider, Chwalinska showed off an array of shots and TNT Sports expert Anne Keothavong was in awe of one stroke in particular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said: \u201dWhen she came into the studio for the first time I called her the drop-shot queen and she was like \u2018no, there are others who play it better\u2019. But sorry, Maja your drop shot is a joke.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201dIt\u2019s just such a wonderful story and I am so in awe of the tennis she has been able to produce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201dI have enjoyed every match of hers. Her composure and the way she held her nerve and closed it out. She is ranked No. 114 in the world. It\u2019s insane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201dI don\u2019t think she ever thought she would be in the final when she rocked up here three weeks ago, who would have thought? I am just delighted for her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ranked No. 114 in the world,\u00a0Chwalinska\u00a0will now contest the final against eighth seed\u00a0Mirra Andreeva\u00a0on Saturday, having dropped just one set at the tournament so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201dIt\u2019s just like a dream watching her have so much joy and be so gracious and be in this moment where she can\u2019t even believe it,\u201d said TNT Sports expert Venus Williams after\u00a0Chwalinska beat Shnaider in straight sets in the semi-finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201dShe has come such a long way and it really is a Cinderella story.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chwalinska has beaten three seeds to reach the final and the only set she has dropped was in the third round against Maria Sakkari.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She was a set and a break down in that match but battled back to win, and has followed up with victories over France’s Diane Parry, 22nd seed Anna Kalinskaya, and Shnaider, who had\u00a0beaten world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Andreeva has admitted that Chwalinska is something of an unknown quantity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“She’s been playing amazing three weeks for her, because she passed through qualies. She’s been playing unbelievable,” the Russian said of her Roland-Garros final opponent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I don’t really know how she plays. I don’t really know her game style. We’ll just try to prepare for the final the best we can.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chwalinska is the first qualifier to reach a Grand Slam final since Britain\u2019s\u00a0Emma Raducanu won the US Open\u00a0in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Raducanu had reached the fourth round of Wimbledon six weeks earlier, Chwalinska had little experience of winning matches at Grand Slams before the French Open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201dThe best she had done was qualify and reach the second round at Wimbledon,\u201d said Keothavong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201dIt\u2019s not like she has ever experienced being in the second week of a Slam and the attention on her, it\u2019s a lot to take in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chwalinska is the third Polish woman in the Open Era to reach a Grand Slam singles final after Agnieszka Radwanska and Iga Swiatek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She is close friends with Swiatek, a four-time winner of the French Open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They made their professional debut at the same tournament in 2015 and\u00a0Chwalinska has described her as a \u201dhuge inspiration\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201dRole models are always important and if they are from your own country then it\u2019s a good thing,\u201d said TNT Sports expert Tim Henman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201dThe way she has taken it in her stride, and the quality of her tennis, and her physical resilience to play nine matches on clay, it\u2019s an unbelievable performance and you just wonder whether she has one more in her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the final, Henman added: “When you think about what has gone on the last two weeks, we have had so many upsets and surprises, who knows what will happen on Saturday? I am looking forward to it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Maja Chwalinska\u2019s dream French Open run went on as she beat Diana Shnaider in straight sets on Thursday to reach the final in Paris. The 24-year-old had only won one Grand Slam main-draw match before this tournament, and had never reached a WTA Tour semi-final. During her win over Shnaider, Chwalinska showed off an array […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12903],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-410356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-12903"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410356"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":410357,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410356\/revisions\/410357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}