{"id":712776,"date":"2026-06-03T14:53:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T14:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/712776\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T14:53:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T14:53:11","slug":"french-open-2026-polish-qualifier-maja-chwalinska-1-2m-richer-after-shock-french-open-upset","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/712776\/","title":{"rendered":"French Open 2026 |Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska $1.2m richer after shock French Open upset"},"content":{"rendered":"

Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska could not believe that her dream run at the French Open<\/a> would continue into the semi-finals, having achieved that feat on Wednesday after defeating 22nd seed Anna Kalinskaya. <\/p>\n

The world No.114 went through three qualifying rounds before entering the main draw and has now reached the semis with a 7-6(3), 6-4 win over Kalinskaya. <\/p>\n

\"Maja<\/p>\n

Maja Chwalinska reacts after winning match point.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

It was not an easy win for the 24-year-old, who prior to this year\u2019s French Open had never survived past the second round at any major tournament. <\/p>\n

A blistering forehand by Kalinskaya sealed the deal for Chwalinska, with the shot from the back of the court going straight out. <\/p>\n

Chwalinska, in a state of disbelief, covered her face as the crowd cheered.<\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly don\u2019t know what is going on,\u201d she said in her on-court interview.<\/p>\n

Chwalinska is the only Polish woman to ever reach the semi-finals at the event alongside Iga Swiatek<\/a>, who was eliminated in the fourth round on Sunday. <\/p>\n

\"Maja<\/p>\n

Maja Chwalinskacelebrates winning match point against Anna Kalinskaya\u00a0Matthew Stockman<\/p>\n

Not only did she etch her name alongside her nation\u2019s top-ranked tennis star, but she also became the sixth qualifier to ever reach this stage in a grand slam women\u2019s singles draw in the Open era.<\/p>\n

The likes of Nadia Podoroska and Emma Raducanu<\/a> are among those to have achieved the feat in the past, with the latter going on to win the 2021 US Open as a qualifier. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m playing against the best players in the world,\u201d Chwalinska said, \u201cI won\u2019t compare myself to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI just try to win every match I\u2019m playing. I\u2019m not focusing on confidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know I repeat myself but every single match here is kind of crazy for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chwalinska had only accumulated $1.1m AUD before taking to the courts at Roland Garros. She has now earned $1.2m from this tournament alone. <\/p>\n

She will now turn her sights to her next opponent, which will be the winner of world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka and Diana Shnaider\u2019s match.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska could not believe that her dream run at the French Open would continue into…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":712777,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":["post-712776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=712776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/712777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=712776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=712776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=712776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}