In the latest WTA rankings released after Roland Garros, Poland’s Maja Chwalinska rose 93 spots from outside the Top 100 to just shy of the Top 20 after a historic run to the Grand Slam final as a qualifier.
The 24-year-old Chwalinska entered the French Open ranked No. 114—just one place off her previous career high of No. 113 set last month—before surging to No. 21 on June 8 after a breakthrough fortnight in Paris. She became just the second qualifier in the Open Era to reach a Grand Slam singles final, joining Emma Raducanu, who achieved the feat at the 2021 US Open. Moreover, she became the lowest-ranked woman ever to reach a Roland Garros final since the inception of the WTA Rankings in 1975.
Before the 2026 French Open, Chwalinska had never recorded a win against a Top 50 opponent. Over the course of two weeks on the clay of Roland Garros, that record was completely rewritten. She produced five Top 50 victories in a single tournament, defeating Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen, along with Elise Mertens, Maria Sakkari, Anna Kalinskaya, and Diana Shnaider en route to the final.
The achievement becomes even more remarkable when considering that this was Chwalinska’s Roland Garros main-draw debut. In fact, she was competing in just the third Grand Slam main draw of her career and only the eighth tour-level main draw overall. The dream run propelled her from outside the Top 100 to a new career-high, allowing her to break into the Top 100, Top 50, and Top 30 all in a single rankings update.
Even more encouragingly for the Pole, she has very few ranking points to defend in the coming period, leaving ample opportunity to continue her climb over the next few months. Before turning her attention to the grass-court season, however, Chwalinska plans to take a well-earned break and return to competition at Wimbledon.
The player who defeated Chwalinska in the Roland Garros final, Mirra Andreeva, moved up from No. 8 to No. 6, reaching her highest ranking of the season and returning close to her career peak of No. 5.
