Andreeva Wins French Open, Ends Drought for Russian Women at Slams

Mirra Andreeva is the 2026 French Open women’s singles champion, becoming the first Russian woman to win a Grand Slam since Maria Sharapova won the 2014 French Open.

Andreeva, the No. 8 seed in the tournament, defeated Poland’s Maja Chwalińska 6–3, 6–2 during Saturday’s final. At just 19 years old, the Russian is the first teenager to win a Slam since 19-year-old Coco Gauff did so at the 2023 US Open. Andreeva is also the first player born after 2005, male or female, to reach and win a Grand Slam final—paving the way for a new generation of tennis stars with her victory.

Andreeva is also the youngest to raise the Suzanne-Lenten Cup since Monica Seles in 1992. 

The roof of Philippe-Chartier Court opened right before the final kicked off, and both players dealt with wind gusts of up to 29 mph (according to the TNT broadcast of the final) throughout the match. Though Chwalińska made the match competitive to start, Andreeva pulled away toward the end of the first set and dominated most of the second.

During Andreeva’s run in Paris, she took down three other seeded players and dropped just one set—a 3–6 showing against Spain’s Marina Bassols Ribera to open her second-round match.

This French Open victory is a major milestone in Andreeva’s ascent to the WTA’s upper ranks. In 2025, she won her first and second WTA 1000-level titles at age 17. But in terms of majors, Paris is where she’s the most successful—the French Open is the only slam where she’s advanced beyond the quarterfinals. Before this year, her best result was reaching the semifinals in 2024.

For her win, Andreeva will take home $3,248,000 in prize money, an increase from the $2.9 million that Gauff earned from winning in 2025.

At the French Open, it is a tradition to play the winner’s national anthem at the trophy ceremony. However, no anthem was played on Saturday—Andreeva is considered a “neutral athlete” not playing under the Russian flag. Russian and Belarusian athletes have been playing as neutrals since March 2022, shortly after the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, after the ITF banned them from representing their nations.

This hasn’t been a topic in past years, as Andreeva is the first Russian or Belarusian men’s or women’s player to win a French Open title since the war began.

Andreeva’s nationality has already been a subject of controversy at the French Open—after defeating Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk in the semifinals, Kostyuk did not shake hands with her. Kostyuk has been outspoken about the war, saying after her quarterfinal win that Russian players have “made it very clear whose side they are on.”

Chwalińska’s Notable Run

Though Chwalińska came up just short in the finals, she still made history in several ways in Paris. Ranked No. 114 overall before the tournament, she had to play three qualifying matches before going into the main draw, becoming the first qualifier and lowest-ranked player to ever reach the French Open final. For her finals run, Chwalińska earned $1,624,000, which is almost double her total career earnings of $864,030 before Paris.

Because of Chwalińska’s additional qualifying matches, she spent seven hours and 30 minutes longer on court than Andreeva coming into the final.

Chwalińska, who never played past the second round of a slam before, previously said she struggled to pay for her hotel in Paris because she didn’t expect to stay for so long—but Polish sports nutrition brand Oshee, which she signed with during the tournament, stepped in to cover her lodging costs.

Andreeva is scheduled to play the Bad Homburg Open in Germany later in June, a grass warm-up tournament for Wimbledon. Meanwhile, Chwalińska will await a possible Wimbledon main draw wild card, or else she’ll have to play qualifiers again in London.