The ultimate fairytale may have missed its final chapter, but two women’s lives were changed on a bright and blustery day in Paris. The 19-year-old Mirra Andreeva won her first Grand Slam title, becoming the youngest women’s French Open champion for 34 years.
As for the runner-up, Maja Chwalinska failed at the last in her bid to become the second qualifier in history, after Emma Raducanu, to win a major. But five years ago she was gripped so tightly in the clutches of depression she struggled to get out of bed – and on Sunday morning she will awake as a Grand Slam finalist.
The new world No21 has earned £1.2m here, more than double her previous earnings, but more valuable than that may be the belief that her peculiar but very watchable game can trouble the best in the world. The 24-year-old from Poland will hope to leverage this run into a long and fruitful career.
Andreeva is operating in a higher sphere, however, and we may look back on this 6-3, 6-2 victory as the beginning of the Mirra Era. If, as expected, she adds further Slams to her collection the No8 seed may never have an easier run on paper, having faced no other top 10 players. But the first Slam is always the hardest and she will arrive at Wimbledon later this month with eyes on the title.
In the 90s – the time of Monica Seles, Martina Hingis and Jennifer Capriati – it was commonplace for prodigiously talented teenagers to win Grand Slams. As the post-Serena women’s game has become more physical and power-based that has seemed increasingly unlikely.
But there will always be prodigies and Andreeva is the exception that proves the rule. Her gamestyle is a throwback, too, to the grace and guile of Hingis. As she inevitably adds more power to her game she will be a fearsome prospect indeed.
Andreeva was born in Siberia but developed her game here in France. She first gave notice of her ability aged 15, reaching the last 16 at Wimbledon in 2023, and her progress was turbo-charged by the inspired appointment of Conchita Martinez a year later. The 1994 Wimbledon champion is one of very few top female coaches who have been there and done it as players.
Talent is no guarantee of Slams, however, and neither is a top coach. Andreeva has shown her fair share of teenage petulance in recent times, most spectacularly in screaming ‘F*** you!’ at the Indian Wells crowd in March.
The 19-year-old Mirra Andreeva won her first Grand Slam title, becoming the youngest women’s French Open champion for 34 years
Maja Chwalinska failed at the last in her bid to become the second qualifier in history, after Emma Raducanu, to win a major
She has struggled to bring her best at the Grand Slams, too, her only previous semi-final coming here two years ago.
Last year she was a bag of nerves in subsiding against French world No361 Lois Boisson in the quarters. This final will have brought back uncomfortable memories, then, as for the second year in a row she faced the event’s surprise package and crowd favourite.
Players all fortnight have struggled to get to grips with the pace – or the lack thereof – of Chwalinska’s ball. She loops it over in classic clay-court style, mixing in slices, drop shots and sorties to the net. Her game is fun to watch and hellish to play against – especially in the windy conditions that have predominated in this second week.
Many of Chwalinska’s frustrated and flabbergasted opponents in Paris have made the mistake of trying to overpower her and so playing into her gameplan of trying to extract errors.
Andreeva operated within herself, patiently working the ball into the corners and waiting for Chwalinska to crack.
She had the court craft to play Chwalinska at her own game too. Towards the end of the second set the Pole hit a fine drop shot but Andreeva chased it down and dinked the ball back over mere centimetres from the net.
Nerves were swirling in the wind early on: Chwalinska opened the match with a double fault and there were four straight breaks of serve. From 3-3 though, having felt her way into the match and got the measure of her unorthodox opponent, Andreeva felt comfortable enough to turn up the power dial and Chwalinska couldn’t handle it.
