By Julien Pretot
PARIS, June 3 (Reuters) – Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska continued her dream run at the French Open on Wednesday, reaching the semi-finals with a 7-6(3) 6-3 victory over Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya on a windswept Court Philippe Chatrier.
The 24-year-old absorbed the power of the 22nd seed superbly, repeatedly forcing Kalinskaya into errors by extending rallies and making her hit one extra shot as she became only the second qualifier in the Open era to reach the Roland Garros semi-finals – and the sixth to achieve the feat at a Grand Slam.
Chwalinska, who will face world number one Aryna Sabalenka or Russia’s Diana Shnaider for a place in Saturday’s final, will earn at least $870,000, more prize money than she has collected in the rest of her career.
After an early exchange of breaks, Chwalinska broke her opponent’s serve again and saved two break points to move 4-1 ahead before nerves crept in, allowing Kalinskaya to force a tiebreak.
But Chwalinska, who had won only two Tour-level matches on clay before this tournament, rediscovered her composure at the perfect moment. After a tense nine-shot rally on set point, Kalinskaya sent a backhand long to hand the Pole the opening set.
Chwalinska maintained her momentum in the second set and, aided by a stream of unforced errors from Kalinskaya, raced into a 4-1 lead.
Kalinskaya snatched a break back for 5-3 but Chwalinska sealed victory in the next game on another unforced error by the Russian.
“Every single match here is kind of crazy for me, I’m very grateful,” said Chwalinska, who has only dropped one set on her way to the last four and will get into the top 30 after the tournament.
“My goal was to be top 100 this year. That was the main goal. Coming here, my goal was to qualify. I felt like I’m doing a good job, you know, like that I do the right things and I just need to be patient for it to click,” she told a news conference.
“Obviously, I didn’t expect it to happen that way. But, I mean, I’m not complaining.”
Kalinskaya said the windy and cold conditions had worked against her.
“It was cold today, so the ball was going slower. I couldn’t use my speed, my power. So it definitely was an advantage for her today, for her game style,” she said.
“That’s why I couldn’t feel like I was taking a lot of control of the point, because my ball was not very powerful, and it didn’t hurt her too much.”
(Reporting by Julien Pretot, editing by Ed Osmond)
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