Paris (France) (AFP) - World number 114 Maja Chwalinska continued her stunning French Open run on Wednesday by becoming just the second women’s qualifier to reach the last four at Roland Garros in the professional era.

However, the 24-year-old told reporters that her accomplishments were yet to fully sink in.

“I feel like I just, for some reason, I don’t process it, you know,” Chwalinska said.

“I’m just focusing on every single match. I honestly don’t feel like it’s, like, a huge, huge moment for me.

“But definitely after the tournament finishes, I will kind of have time to, I guess, be grateful for what happened and process it as well.”

Chwalinska again defied the odds to down Russian 22nd seed Anna Kalinskaya 7-6 (⁷⁄₃), 6-3 at the quarter-final stage.

It was her eighth win at the tournament after she battled through three qualifying rounds to reach the main draw of a major for just the third time in her career.

Prior to her run in Paris, Chwalinska had only ever won two tour-level matches on clay in her career, now she stands one victory away from competing for the biggest title the surface has to offer.

Standing in her way in Thursday’s semi-final will be 25th seed Diana Shnaider.

Regardless of the outcome of that match, Chwalinska has ensured her spot in the annals of Roland Garros by equalling, at least, the result of Nadia Podoroska, who in 2020 became the first woman in the Open era to come through qualifying and reach the semi-finals at the clay-court Grand Slam.

“I honestly don’t know what’s going on. I know I repeat myself but every single match here is kind of crazy for me so I’m very grateful,” Chwalinska said on court.

The diminutive Pole raced into early leads in both sets, before Kalinskaya fought back on both occasions.

However, Chwalinska held her nerve to get over the line to keep her stunning run alive.

- ‘A different story’ -

Chwalinska said her adaptability was the thing she was most proud of from her time in the French capital.

“It’s a long tournament. I’m here almost three weeks now,” she said. “Every day is different. Every match is different. Conditions are different.

“So I had to adapt a lot. I’m very happy that I was able to do that. I think it’s something that I can be proud of, you know, in my effort to do that.

“Obviously I’m a bit tired, but that’s normal… it’s a Grand Slam. So I feel like the adrenaline is very high. Like, I can feel terrible, but then I just step on the court and, you know, it’s a different story.”

Between 2019 and 2021, Chwalinska battled with depression and took a break from tennis.

“The break wasn’t very tough,” she said. “The tough moments were before the break, I would say. I was struggling a lot.”

The Dabrowa Gornicza native revealed that first she thought she “just needed to stay very strong, tough, and just keep practising”.

But that eventually, she felt “lifeless” and “couldn’t get out of bed anymore”.

Since returning to competition she has mostly played in lower-level tournaments.

At the start of the 2026 season she shared that her “main goal” was to break into the top 100.

She can now rest her laurels in that regard as with her last-four run at Roland Garros she will achieve that, and then some, come the next WTA rankings update.

“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,” Chwalinska said.

“But obviously, I didn’t expect it to happen that way. But, I mean, I’m not complaining…”