19-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva captured her first Grand Slam title by defeating qualifier Maja Chwalinska (Poland, ranked 114) 6-3, 6-2 in the Roland Garros women's singles final on Saturday (June 8, Paris time).
Andreeva, the eighth seed, became the youngest women's singles champion at the French Open since Monica Seles, who won her third consecutive title at age 18 in 1992. She finished the match with 25 winners and 26 unforced errors, compared to Chwalinska's 10 winners and 29 unforced errors.
"You are very young and talented, it's annoying," Chwalinska told Andreeva during the trophy ceremony. After hitting a crosscourt backhand winner on her first match point, Andreeva tossed her racket into the air and dropped to her knees on the clay court to celebrate.
Speaking at the trophy ceremony, Andreeva made an unusual gesture by thanking herself: "Thank you for always believing in yourself, always giving 100 percent through difficulties, trying every day to become better as a person and a player, believing you could do this, fighting so many demons inside me. Only I know how hard it was, how much I was worrying over the last two weeks."
Born in Siberia, Andreeva moved to Sochi and eventually France to develop her tennis career. She received warm applause from the Philippe-Chatrier court crowd after speaking a few sentences in French during the ceremony. "Thank you for your support today and over these last two wonderful weeks in Paris, it means a lot to me," she said.
Chwalinska, who was attempting to become the first qualifier to win Roland Garros, double-faulted on the first point of the match. She served first and led 3-2 in the fifth game, but Andreeva then won nine straight games to take control of the match.
When Andreeva defeated Marta Kostyuk in the semifinals, the Ukrainian player refused to shake her hand, following the practice of Ukrainian players against Russians since the Russia-Ukraine war erupted in 2022. Andreeva competes as a neutral without a national flag.
Polish fans dominated the stands with red-and-white flags and chants of "Ma-ja, Ma-ja," though Russian cries of "Davai Mirra!" (Go Mirra!) were also heard late in the match. Alexander Zverev will face Flavio Cobolli in the men's singles final on Sunday to cap off this turbulent Grand Slam. In men's doubles, top seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos successfully defended their title with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten.
