Mirra Andreeva won her maiden Grand Slam championship on Saturday, defeating Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska in straight sets in the French Open final.
The 19-year-old Russian defeated Chwalinska 6-3, 6-2 to become the youngest Roland Garros women’s singles champion since Monica Seles, then 18, won her third consecutive title in Paris in 1992.
With her first major title, Andreeva became the first man or woman born after 2005 to win the Grand Slam.
The Coupe Suzanne Lenglen will now take center stage in Andreeva’s expanding trophy collection, which already includes two WTA 1000 titles.
Chwalinska’s incredible run began in qualifying, when she won nine matches in the French capital to become the first qualifier to reach the Open final in history.
However, the world number 114’s career will now be in a different stratosphere as she will rise to 21 in the rankings and be assured of competing regularly in tennis’ biggest tournaments.
Chwalinska showed some early nervousness as she dropped two serves right into the net on the match’s first point, with Andreeva eventually forcing a break at the end of a seven-minute opening game.
But the Pole responded immediately, as Andreeva overcooked a backhand down the line after a sequence of looping defensive shots from both sides of the court at 30-40.
Both players appeared to be struggling with the occasion, exacerbated by breezy circumstances on center court, as two more successive breaks occurred.
Chwalinska then ended that as she held to love, bringing the fans to their feet as she demonstrated the versatility of her shot selection by enticing Andreeva to the net with a drop shot before lobbing her with a perfectly weighted volley to take a 3-2 lead.
Andreeva demonstrated her willingness to go toe-to-toe with her opponent, waiting patiently for a winner up the line before blasting down an ace for her first hold of the match.
The Russian dug in and took the lead when she pounced on a Chwalinska serve game that was hampered by the wind, which caused several courtside spectators’ straw hats to blow away.
She then rattled off an easy hold before cruising to a one-set lead, breaking Chwalinska again with a crosscourt backhand winner.
Andreeva continued to dominate as Chwalinska committed errors, falling behind early in the second frame.
Two Andreeva faults and an unplayable drop shot gave the Pole the opportunity to quickly erase that lead, but the kid demonstrated remarkable tenacity to hold on, and at 3-0, the writing was on the wall for Chwalinska.
Andreeva then dominated the next two games, pushing her team to the verge.
However, Chwalinska refused to give up, holding to make it 5-1 and then breaking Andreeva as she served for the win.
However, the new world number six was not to be denied, as she pounced in the next game to win the biggest title of her brief career.
A backhand winner sent her to her knees, surpassing her teacher Conchita Martinez’s second-place finish at Roland Garros in 2000.
