For the second year in a row, the French Open women’s singles tournament has a Cinderella run, after former world No. 114 Maja Chwalińska went from the qualifying rounds to reach the semifinals. However, the timing of the tournament may make it harder for her to capitalize.
Last year, French hometown favorite Lois Boisson made a run to the semifinals as a wild card, despite being ranked No. 361 in the world. Even though her ranking shot up to No. 65 after Paris, she was not one of the top 104 players in Wimbledon’s main draw, with the entry lists being finalized in mid-May, before the French Open began.
Boisson was not awarded a 2025 Wimbledon wild card (main draw spots are given to a select eight players in the men’s and women’s draws who wouldn’t have qualified with their ranking), with the tournament prioritizing them for players who did well there in past years, or garnered British interest. She lost in the first round of qualifying that tournament, which she could have bypassed with her post-French Open ranking.
A similar fate may await Chwalińska, whose live ranking shot up to No. 30 (which would have made her seeded at Wimbledon had she achieved this mark earlier). The Polish player could make it even further on her French Open run, as she avoided playing No. 1-ranked Aryna Sabalenka in her semifinal and will instead face No. 25 Diana Shnaider.
