From Qualifying to the Semifinals? A Rare Feat: Maja Chwalińska Becomes the 11th in History
Maja Chwalińska has entered rare territory at Roland Garros 2026, becoming only the 11th player in the Open era to reach a Grand Slam semifinal after coming through qualifying. In women’s tennis, it is just the sixth such run. The achievement is already historic, but the article emphasizes how difficult it is to go further: since 1968, only one qualifier has ever reached a major final, and that was Emma Raducanu at the 2021 US Open. History, in other words, is not on Chwalińska’s side, even if her Paris run has already been exceptional.
The piece looks back at every previous qualifier to reach a Grand Slam semifinal in the Open era, showing how unusual such progress is. John McEnroe was the first, at Wimbledon in 1977, when he came through qualifying as an 18-year-old and then advanced all the way to the semifinals before losing to Jimmy Connors. Bob Giltinan followed later that year at the Australian Open, reaching the semifinal on home soil, while Christine Matison became the first woman qualifier to do it at the 1978 Australian Open in a much shorter women’s draw.
Other names on the list include Filip Dewulf at Roland Garros in 1997, Alexandra Stevenson at Wimbledon in 1999, Wladimir Wołczkow at Wimbledon in 2000, Nadia Podoroska at Roland Garros in 2020, Aslan Karatsev at the 2021 Australian Open, Emma Raducanu at the 2021 US Open, and Dajana Jastremska at the 2024 Australian Open. Several of those runs came in unusual circumstances or in draw formats that helped create openings, but all of them were still remarkable. Some players, like McEnroe, Raducanu and Karatsev, used the breakout as a launchpad to bigger careers. Others, such as Podoroska or Wołczkow, never repeated that level again.
Raducanu remains the only qualifier in Open-era history to go beyond the semifinal and win the entire Grand Slam title. Her 2021 US Open run is presented as the one case that broke through the historical ceiling. Karatsev also made history in Melbourne in 2021 by becoming the first man to reach a Grand Slam semifinal in his major debut. Jastremska’s run in Australia in 2024 is described as especially impressive because of the strength of her draw, which included wins over Marketa Vondrousova, Emma Navarro, Victoria Azarenka and Linda Noskova before she finally fell to Zheng Qinwen.
The article closes with Chwalińska’s current Paris campaign, noting that she has already beaten strong opponents and that her semifinal against Diana Shnaider will test whether she can do something history rarely allows: turn a qualifier’s dream run into a final appearance. Even if she falls short, her place in tennis history is already secure.
