A new women’s champion was crowned at the French Open on Saturday after a dramatic fortnight that saw several top seeds falter in the early stages. Andreeva, the eighth seed, was the highest-ranked player left in the draw at the dawn of the semifinals.
The 19-year-old showed incredible maturity despite the pressure of expectations, beating Poland’s Maja Chwalińska to clinch her maiden Grand Slam title. During her runner-up speech, Chwalińska teased the champion for her lights-out tennis.
Maja Chwalińska Falls to Mirra Andreeva in Straight Sets in the French Open Final
Chwalińska, the No. 114-ranked qualifier, staged a historic run in Paris this year. After entering the main draw with three straight-set wins, she crushed top players from the get-go. She, however, couldn’t keep pace with Andreeva in the final showdown. The Russian teenager scripted a dominant performance to secure the title with a 6-3, 6-2 win. In her speech, the Pole said:
“First of all, congrats to Mirra. You’re such an incredible player. You’re so young and talented; it’s so annoying. Congrats to you and your team for an amazing job. I wish you all the best for the future.”
Chwalińska’s French Open campaign involved wins over three seeded players. Her first victim was 2024 Paris Olympics champion Zheng Qinwen (6-4, 6-0), after which she staged an upset against 23 seed Elise Mertens with an identical score.
She followed that with a comeback win against former French Open semifinalist Maria Sakkari (1-6, 6-3, 6-2) before knocking out home favorite Diane Parry (6-3, 6-2). 22 seed Anna Kalinskaya faltered against her 7-6(3), 6-3 in the quarterfinal, and 25 seed Diana Shnaider lost 7-6(4), 6-4 in the semifinals.
Chwalińska was disappointed after failing to entertain the crowd in the title clash and blamed Andreeva for denying her any opportunity.
“I wish you could see a better match today”, but Mirra was just too good for me, so I guess it’s her fault,” she joked. “I tried my best; I’m sorry.”
Andreeva responded in kind, appreciating her opponent’s challenge. “Of course, first of all, congrats to Maja for these amazing 3 weeks. Passing through qualies, winning so many matches, beating so many great players, congrats to your team as well. You guys have done an amazing job.”
“You’re a very tricky opponent. I wouldn’t want to play against you one more time,” Andreeva joked. “I wish you the best of luck for the rest of the season, and I hope we play… Okay, it’s fine. I hope we play many, many more finals together in the future.”
MORE: Mirra Andreeva Refuses To Thank Mary Pierce in Playful French Open Winner’s Speech
Andreeva, aged 19 years and 25 days, is the youngest player to win the women’s singles title at Stade Roland-Garros after Monica Seles in 1992. This is her sixth career title in eight finals. The Russian star has now surpassed Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina to take the top spot in the 2026 race to the WTA Finals.
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