Maja Chwalinska became just the second qualifier to reach the French Open women's singles semi-finals in the Open Era, following a 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 success over Anna Kalinskaya in the last eight.

Chwalinska had already eliminated Qinwen Zheng, Elise Mertens, Maria Sakkari and Diane Parry in her best-ever grand slam run, and she claimed her biggest scalp yet by eliminating 22nd seed Kalinskaya.

The world number 114 needed one hour and 55 minutes to emerge as a straight-sets victor on Court Philippe-Chatrier, an outcome that looked unlikely when she was broken in the opening game.

She responded with back-to-back breaks of her own, with four of the first five games of a tight opening set going to deuce – the exception being a love hold from Chwalinska.

Things got nervy when Chwalinska was twice broken in games where she squandered a set-point opportunity, sending the opener to a tie-break, but she came through before taking charge of the second set.

Two more breaks saw her race into a 4-1 lead, and though holding serve soon became impossible for both players with four more breaks following in a row, that cushion ensured Chwalinska could not be caught.

She will now face either world number one Aryna Sabalenka or 25th seed Diana Shnaider in the semis, as she looks to cap her dream run with a final appearance.

Maja's moment #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/dtpbkU03uT

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 3, 2026

Chwalinska flies the flag in Swiatek's absence

When four-time Roland-Garros champion Iga Swiatek bowed out to Marta Kostyuk in the fourth round, Polish tennis fans might have thought they were unlikely to be represented in the latter stages.

But Chwalinska has become just the second Polish player to reach the French Open semi-finals in the Open Era, across both men's and women's singles.

The 24-year-old is only the sixth qualifier in the Open Era to reach a women's singles semi-final at any grand slam, with only Nadia Podoroska previously doing so at Roland-Garros (in 2020).

The other players to achieve that feat are Christine Matison (Australian Open 1978), Alexandra Stevenson (Wimbledon 1999), Emma Raducanu (US Open 2021) and Dayana Yastremska (Australian Open 2024).

Raducanu, of course, is the only qualifier to win a major title, and it will be a tough ask for Chwalinska to repeat that feat. But her run in Paris has already been remarkable, coming on just her third main-draw appearance at a grand slam.