Polish underdog Maja Chwalinska continued her dream run at the French Open by beating Diane Parry to become the first qualifier to reach the quarter-finals since 2020.
The world No.114 produced a 6-3, 6-2 win over the last remaining home player in the singles draw this year. Chwalinska was unbroken throughout the match as she hit 21 winners against 14 unforced errors. She has now won seven consecutive matches at Roland Garros, including three rounds of qualifying. Earlier in the week, she also scored wins over 23rd seed Elise Mertens and former top 10 player Maria Sakkari.
“I think pure joy,” Chwalinska replied when asked on court how she was feeling about her latest win.
“I didn’t expect it starting the tournament, so I’m just very grateful to be here (in the quarter-finals).”
In a tournament full of shocks, the 24-year-old has capitalised on her opportunity. Coming into the tournament, she had only won two Tour-level matches on clay in her career and only played on the main draw of one other main Tour event in 2026. That was in Cluj-Napoca, where she also reached the quarter-finals after coming through qualifying.
Against Parry, who is ranked just over 20 places higher than her, Chwalinska explained that she stuck to her usual game style to secure victory.
“It’s pretty natural for me to play a lot of drop shots and high balls from the forehand. So it was just my game today,” she said.
The next test for Pole will be Anna Kalinskaya, who came through an epic encounter against Anastasia Potapova. Kalinskaya was down 1-4 in the final set before clawing her way back to win 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(10-7) after almost three hours of play. Until this season, the Russian had only won one main draw match in four appearances at Roland Garros.
“She’s one of the top players in the world. No one knows me, to be honest,” Chwalinska commented.
“Definitely a very challenging one again, like every match here. I just need to play my best, best tennis to win.”
Chwalinska is the third player from her country to reach the quarter-finals of the French Open in the Open Era. The first two to do so were Agnieszka Radwanska and Iga Swiatek.
