History was made at the French Open on Wednesday.
Maja Chwalinska, the 114th-ranked women’s singles player, defeated No. 22 Anna Kalinskaya in straight sets to reach the French Open semifinal.
With the victory, Chwalinska becomes just the second women’s singles player to reach the semis after competing in the qualifying rounds.
In Grand Slam tournaments, Chwalinska is only the sixth player to reach the semis from the qualifying rounds.
Of the six, only one, Emma Raducanu, went on to win a tournament at the 2021 U.S. Open.
Chwalinska has now won eight straight matches at Roland-Garros. After winning the first set of the quarterfinal on a tiebreaker, Chwalinska dominated the second set, taking it 6-3.
“I honestly don’t know what is going on,” Chwalinska told the BBC after the win. “Coming here, my goal was to qualify. I felt like I’m doing the right things and I just need to be patient for it to click. I didn’t expect it to happen that way – but I’m not complaining.”
Chwalinska made her professional debut in 2019 at the Fed Cup, and she picked up her first major win in 2022 at Wimbledon. But it was around that time that Chwalinska struggled with depression and took a two-year break from competing.
Chwalinska did not know whether she would return to the sport.
“I was struggling a lot. I pushed at the beginning, I thought that I just needed to stay very strong and just keep practicing,” Chwalinska said of taking time off. “But then I just couldn’t get out of bed anymore. I was just lifeless. I needed to figure out a few things in my head. After [a few] months, I came back. I’m happy that I did.”
Chwalinska now matches against another player coming off a major upset. No. 25 Diana Shnaider, who took down the top seed Aryna Sabalenka in three sets.