POLAND’S Maja Chwalinska is two wins away from matching Emma Raducanu’s grand slam title as a qualifier after continuing her surprise run at the French Open.

The 24-year-old had only won one main draw match at any slam before arriving in Paris but extended her winning run to eight matches with a 7-6 (3) 6-3 victory over 22nd seed Anna Kalinskaya in the quarter-finals.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” she said. “Every match is crazy for me. I’m grateful.

“I try to win every match. I’m playing against the best players in the world, so I won’t compare myself to them.”

Chwalinska’s game is unusual on the WTA Tour, with the left-hander relying on court craft and determined defence rather than power tennis.

Kalinskaya seemed to have got to grips with Chwalinska’s tactics when she pulled her way back from 5-1 down in the first set to level, but the Pole dug in to take the tie-break.

Kalinskaya couldn’t keep her errors at bay, committing 47 unforced, while Chwalinska was ruthless in taking her chances, converting seven of her eight break points.

Meanwhile, Jakub Mensik won the next-generation battle against Joao Fonseca last Tuesday evening to set up a French Open semi-final against title favourite Alexander Zverev.

Brazilian Fonseca has lit up the tournament so far with his electrifying brand of power tennis, knocking out Novak Djokovic in the third round.

But, aside from saving six match points in a remarkable game, the 19-year-old could not summon up the same magic here and instead it was 20-year-old Mensik who won 6-4 6-3 7-6 (3) to become the youngest Czech man ever to reach a grand slam semi-final.