In blustery conditions at Roland Garros on Saturday, the promised end materialised as Andreeva, the eighth seed, saw off Polish qualifier Maja Chwalińska 6-3, 6-2 to secure the first of what will surely be many grand slam titles.

That the breakthrough came in Paris, where the 19-year-old Russian made her debut at this level three years ago, felt apt. She marked that maiden grand slam campaign in 2023 with a run to the third round, where she fell to Coco Gauff in three sets. But Andreeva’s emergence that year is perhaps best remembered for her declaration that she hoped to finish her career with 25 majors.

Time alone will tell whether she can make good on that vaulting ambition. For the moment, however, one will do just fine. That point was underlined when Andreeva posed afterwards alongside her coach, the former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martínez. As both women held a single finger aloft, the message was clear: one down. There will be time for the next 24.

Mirra Andreeva: ‘It’s been one of my biggest dreams’

“It’s been one of my biggest dreams,” she said. “I’ve had a lot of thoughts on how it’s going to happen, if it’s going to happen, when it’s going to happen, where. The feeling in real life is, I would say, so much better than in your dreams.”

On championship point, as Andreeva applied the coup de grâce with her 25th winner of the afternoon before sinking to her knees, the overriding sense was of destiny being fulfilled in real time. 

Since the open era began in 1968, only Monica Seles, Aranxta Sanchez Vicario and Steffi Graf have lifted the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen at a younger age, while this century only Maria Sharapova and Emma Raducanu, at 17 and 18 respectively, have won a major earlier in their careers. 

In one respect, however, this was a victory quite unlike those that went before. The emergence of a teenage champion is normally accompanied by scenes of joy, emotion, spontaneity. Seles hurling her racket skywards in 1990, her smile illuminating an otherwise damp, gloomy Parisian afternoon. A giggling Sharapova trying in vain to call her mother from Wimbledon’s Centre Court following her 2004 win. 

This was different. Andreeva’s victory was a more knowing, choreographed affair – and never mind that she is barely older than the ball kids who later formed a cheering guard of honour as she descended the stairs into the bowels of Court Philippe Chatrier. 

Mirra Andreeva: ‘I want to thank myself’

Hardly had the red dirt settled before Andreeva was handed a jacket emblazoned with the words: “I want to thank myself,” a nod to the catchphrase she coined after winning her first tour-level event in Romania two years ago. Meanwhile, her team donned T-shirts bearing a picture of the new champion alongside the legend, “Fight beyond your years.” Never say the marketing fraternity don’t come prepared.

Perhaps the Andreeva camp’s preparedness was to be expected, a reflection of the gulf in status and experience between Chwalińska, who arrived in Paris for the qualifying event with a ranking of 114, and the first top-10 player she has faced in her career. Certainly there was a lack of jeopardy on a day when the Pole, previously so adept at bringing her craft and variety to bear, struggled to find her game in the swirling wind.

Yet this has been a French Open defined by the unexpected, and little has been more unexpected than Chwalińska’s carving run through the draw. A throwback to a more elegant era, with her variety and touch, she has discombobulated opponents with her ability to run down every ball and driven them to distraction with her deft drop shots and changes of pace and trajectory. Against a player whose scalps included Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng, former semi-finalist Maria Sakkari, and a trio of seeds in Elise Mertens, Anna Kalinskaya and Diana Shnaider,  Andreeva could take nothing for granted.

She knew as much, and it showed. No doubt well briefed by Martínez, Andreeva refused to be ensnared in Chwalińska’s web. She found a perfect balance between patience and aggression. She was alive to the danger posed by the Pole’s drop shots, and quick to move forward when they arrived. In every possible sense, she was prepared for victory.

Challenging conditions

It nonetheless took time for the teenager to settle. With the conditions challenging, an uneven start from both women produced four straight breaks, with Andreeva twice dropping serve on a double fault. But having held for the first time in the sixth game, she grew visibly in confidence, compiling a run of nine straight games to put the title beyond Chwalińska’s reach. 

The 24-year-old can, however, reflect with satisfaction on a run that propels her to a career-high ranking of 21. Nor is that the only sense in which Chwalińska finds herself among elevated company, given that Evonne Goolagong and Chris Evert are the only other women to make the final as main draw debutants in the open era. As a self-confessed tennis nerd, it is a distinction she will appreciate. 

Bailed out by the Polish sports drink firm Oshee when she ran out of funds to support her extended stay in Paris, Chwalińska will no doubt be equally appreciative of the €1.4m ($1.625m) cheque she will bank for her efforts, almost doubling her previous total career earnings.  

Maja Chwalińska: ‘It’s been 18 years of hard work, patience and perseverance’

“It’s been 18 years of hard work, patience and perseverance,” said Chwalińska, who was born in the southern Polish city of Dąbrowa Górnicza, an industrial hub where her father, Tomasz, worked as a coal miner and her mother, Marcela, was a receptionist.

“I had to go through so much to be in this position. Life is weird sometimes and you’ve just got to do your thing and believe it will click someday, and I’m happy that it did. It is definitely an unforgettable three weeks for me. I’ll never forget it.”

Neither will Andreeva, although she already appears more inclined to focus on the future.  

“I’m already thinking of how I’m going to prepare for the grass season and how I’m going to play,” said the teenager. “I feel like this thing is a little bit addicting. I really want to do my best to experience all of this for the second time.”

As ever with Andreeva, it is surely only a matter of time.

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It was the same familiar story on Wednesday as the 24-year-old Polish qualifier battled past Anna Kalinskaya, the Russian world No 24, to reach her first major semi-final 7-6 (7-3), 6-3. 

A case of same old, same old then? Hardly. Not in the wider scheme of things at any rate. Chwalińska’s best previous run at a grand slam came four years ago at Wimbledon, when she reached the second round. But in a tournament where shock results have come thick and fast, she has emerged as the queen of upsets. 

Across her eight matches so far, including three in qualifying, only Maria Sakkari, the Greek former world No 3, has been able to take a set off Chwalińska. Her haul of notable scalps includes Qinwen Zheng, winner of the Olympic title on the Parisian clay two summers back, as well as Elise Mertens, the 23rd seed, and Diane Parry, the last French hope, and now Kalinskaya, a former world No 11 who knows what it is to contest a grand slam quarter-final, having done so two years ago in Melbourne.

What did Maja Chwalińska say after her French Open win over Anna Kalinskaya?

“I honestly don’t know what’s going on,” a dazed Chwalińska told Caroline Garcia as she stood smiling on Court Philippe Chatrier afterwards. “I know I repeat myself, but every single match here is kind of crazy for me, so I’m very grateful.

“I was definitely nervous, it’s normal, I care. I’m stressed, of course, but I try to focus on my job, my game. I just try to win every match that I’m playing, but I’m not focusing on confidence. 

“I’m playing against the best players in the world, so I won’t compare myself to them.”

If she continues in this vein, Chwalińska may have no choice. She follows in the footsteps of her friend Iga Swiatek, a four-time champion in these parts, as just the second Pole to reach the last four at Roland Garros in the open era. Chwalińska also becomes one of only half a dozen qualifiers to make the semi-finals over that period, a feat last achieved by Argentina’s Nadia Podoroska in 2020. Not bad for a player who was struggling to fund her unexpectedly long stay in the French capital until the Polish sports drink company Oshee stepped in to help. 

Early signs that Kalinskaya’s superior firepower would carry the day proved deceptive. Having hit through Chwalińska to secure a break in the opening game, the Russian slowly became enmeshed in her opponent’s intricate web of southpaw spins and all-court guile. 

On a windy, overcast day in Paris, the slow conditions were grist to the mill for Chwalińska, whose combination of looping topspin forehands and viciously sidespun two-handers meant the onus was on Kalinskaya to generate her own pace. For a player who thrives on rhythm and power, it would prove an insoluble problem.

How did Maja Chwalińska disrupt Anna Kalinskaya?

Especially telling was Chwalińska’s disruptive use of the drop shot, a trademark weapon that exposed the limitations of Kalinskaya’s movement and effectiveness in the forecourt. Time and again the 27-year-old was left flailing at shoelace-level balls that left her looking ungainly and uncomfortable. Though alive to the danger – understandably so, given that Chwalińska had won 33 of the 38 drop shots she had attempted over the fortnight coming into the match – she was largely powerless to counter it.

It was not for the want of trying. Towards the end of the first set, and after being urged by her coach Patricia Tarabini to combine her natural aggression with greater patience, Kalinskaya belatedly began to find her range. Having lost five straight games, she twice broke Chwalińska as she served for the opener, fending off set points in both games. By the time she levelled at five games apiece, the qualifier’s scrambling feet had become the soundtrack to the contest, her defensive efforts becoming increasingly desperate.

Even as she threatened to falter, however, the danger posed by Chwalińska remained clear. Her craft and cunning were no less evident in the delicious lob volley winner with which she punctuated a brilliant 27-shot rally than they were on the many occasions when she snuck in mid-rally to volley away winners. 

It was perhaps the enduring sense of menace posed by Chwalińska that prompted Kalinskaya to lapse into error in the tiebreak that followed. When a backhand sailed long to signal the conclusion of the opening set, Kalinskaya’s unforced error tally stood at 29 to the Pole’s 10. 

Anna Kalinskaya: ‘The ball is coming at one mile an hour’

Three games into the second set, another untidy error cost the Russian a break from which she would not recover. Her mental turmoil was laid bare by the frustrated exchange with Tarabini that followed. “The ball is coming at one mile an hour and you want me to push?” barked the exasperated Kalinskaya. “That’s all you can do,” replied the Argentinian with a wan smile. By the end, it was far more than she could do.

As Kalinskaya sent a final ball long, Chwalińska held her head in her hands and then walked to the net with her hand over her mouth, a portrait of disbelief.

Food, rest and Netflix await, said the Pole, who will now face the winner of the day’s second quarter-final between Aryna Sabalenka and Diana Shnaider. If she finds anything more compelling to watch than her own run to the last four, she will be doing well.

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