A comeback built on grit after Swiatek's injury
Maja Chwalinska advanced to the first WTA 1000 final of her career by defeating Iga Swiatek 7-5, 6-1 in an all-Polish semifinal at the Dongfeng • Voyah Wuhan Open on Saturday. The match lasted two hours and eight minutes. Chwalinska had broken first in the opening set, but Swiatek answered with a break of her own and moved ahead 5-3. Chwalinska then erased two set points in the ninth game, and Swiatek called a medical timeout to treat a leg problem.[S1]
After play resumed, the former world No. 1 looked limited by the injury, and Chwalinska claimed 10 of the last 11 games to close out the win. The result squares their head-to-head at 1-1; Swiatek had won their only prior encounter, at an ITF tournament in Stockholm in 2016. The match was the first all-Polish semifinal on the WTA Tour in the open era, according to TVP World.[S1][S2]
Swiatek said afterward that she had felt pain in her quadriceps from the start of the tournament and that she and her team had considered withdrawing following her first-round match with Magda, but she was able to play normally and wanted to push on. She explained that the discomfort was not expected to worsen, so she tried to ignore it, but on Saturday it became too much. She added that she did not want to retire because she preferred that Chwalinska win the match properly.[S1]
A breakthrough season reaches a new peak
The victory is Chwalinska's first over a top-10 opponent and the most significant of her career measured by ranking. It sends her to a second Tour-level final, after she reached the French Open final earlier this season as a qualifier. The 25-year-old is now the second player to contest her first two WTA-level finals at a Grand Slam and a Tier I or WTA 1000 event, following Amelie Mauresmo, who appeared in the Berlin final in 1998 and the Australian Open final in 1999.[S1][S2]
Chwalinska has collected 17 Tour-level victories in 2026, 11 of them on hard courts, compared with only four at that level before this season. The Wuhan run has lifted her to a career-high 12th in the live WTA rankings. She said she had already felt her tennis was at a high level in Singapore, which gave her confidence, and described the latest result as particularly special, acknowledging that doubts about whether her rise would last cross her mind.[S1][S2]
Kartal awaits in a first-ever meeting
Sunday's final will be the first career meeting between Chwalinska and Sonay Kartal of Great Britain, with both chasing the biggest title either has contested. It is also the first time since the tournament began in 2014 that two players ranked outside the WTA top 20 have reached the Wuhan final. Kartal, speaking before she knew her opponent, said she anticipated another hard match and welcomed the challenge of facing someone new, pledging to bring her best level and to savor the occasion.[S1]
Chwalinska said she had watched several of Kartal's matches and came away impressed by the variety in her game, predicting an entertaining and demanding contest. She added that she hoped to recover in time and that the final should be a good spectacle.[S1]
