Maja Chwalinska beat the 25th seed Diana Shnaider on Thursday to make history as the first qualifier to reach the French Open final since tennis was opened up to professional players in 1968.
The 24-year-old Pole won 7-6, 6-4 on centre court to progress to her first final on the senior tour.
On Saturday afternoon, she will take on fellow first-time Grand Slam tournament finalist Mirra Andreeva after the eighth seed crushed the 15th seed Marta Kostyuk.
"It's like a dream," said Chwalinska in her post-match on-court interview with the former player Julien Benneteau.
"It has been so challenging to play against the best players in the world day by day. You have to give it your all but I'm not complaining."
Before the tournament, the world number 114 had amassed around €900,000 in career earnings.
Winner's cheque
On Saturday night, she could be holding a cheque for €2.8 million for winning the most prestigious clay court tournament on the circuit. The runner-up pockets €1.4 million.
"I'm just trying to stay composed," Chwalinska added. "It helps me play my best tennis but there's often a storm in my head."
A sign of that inner turmoil emerged in the first set tiebreak when she slapped a forehand drive into the tramlines to give Shnaider a 3-1 advantage.
The 22-year-old Russian went into the change of ends leading 4-2. But that was as good as it got.
Chwalinska reeled off five consecutive points to take the shootout 7-4 and the set after 77 minutes.
The two traded service breaks at the start of the second set before Chwalinska claimed Shnaider's service game to give herself the chance to serve for the match at 5-4 up.
She wrapped up the game and the match with a forehand winner down the line to claim her ninth victory since coming to Paris for the qualifying tournament which started on 18 June.
Andreeva beats Kostyuk
Though five years younger, Andreeva will start Saturday's final on centre court as the favourite.
The 19-year-old Russian, who reached the French Open quarter-finals last year and the semis in 2024, has won five WTA titles including the 2025 crown at Indian Wells, one of the most coveted on the tour after the four Grand Slam tournaments in Melbourne, Paris, London and New York.
In the first semi-final earlier today, Thursday, Andreeva was too strong for Kostyukn who had won their previous two meetings this year.
Kostyuk started their third encounter poorly. She lost her opening service game and failed to exploit three consecutive chances to win Andreeva's first service game.
Andreeva exploited the hesitancy to take the opener 6-1 after 34 minutes.
But she crumpled again as Andreeva won three consecutive games to take the set 6-3 and the match.
"I'm super happy with the way I played," said Andreeva.
"I'm happy that I'm in my first Grand Slam final. All of these feelings combined, it's amazing."
