PARIS : Mirra Andreeva confirmed her status as one of tennis’s brightest young stars on Saturday, defeating surprise finalist Maja Chwalinska 6-3 6-2 to become the youngest French Open women’s singles champion in more than three decades.
The 19-year-old Russian claimed her maiden Grand Slam title and joined an elite group of active major champions that includes Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff.
Andreeva became the youngest women’s singles champion at French Open since Monica Seles won her third straight Paris title in 1992, underlining the scale of the achievement for a player long tipped for greatness.
While Chwalinska’s remarkable run from qualifying had been one of the stories of the tournament, the final showcased the growing authority of Andreeva, whose power and composure proved decisive on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
Despite the defeat, Chwalinska’s breakthrough fortnight will propel her from world number 114 to a career-high ranking of 21, completing one of the most dramatic rises in recent Grand Slam history.
The women’s final featured two first-time Grand Slam finalists, but it was Andreeva who handled the occasion better in difficult, windy conditions.
Both players struggled with nerves early on, exchanging breaks repeatedly in a tense opening set. Chwalinska, only the second woman in the professional era to come through qualifying and reach a Grand Slam final after Emma Raducanu at the 2021 U.S. Open, fought hard but could not establish control.
At 3-3 in the first set, Andreeva began striking the ball with greater depth and consistency, forcing the Pole onto the defensive. She broke for a 4-3 lead, held serve and then capitalised on another error-strewn Chwalinska service game to take the set.
The Russian carried that momentum into the second set, racing to a 4-0 advantage as Chwalinska struggled to cope with the relentless pressure from the baseline.
Although the Pole recovered one break and narrowed the gap to 5-2, Andreeva remained in complete control and sealed victory with a clean crosscourt backhand winner on her opponent’s serve.
The title earned Andreeva prize money of $3.22 million, while Chwalinska collected $1.61 million—roughly double her career earnings before arriving in Paris.
Earlier, top seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos retained the men’s doubles title with a 6-4 6-2 victory over Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten.
Granollers and Zeballos, who teamed up in 2019, secured their third Grand Slam title together after also winning the French Open and U.S. Open the previous year, completing an unbeaten, set-perfect campaign in Paris.
