Maja Chwalinska’s French Open fairytale turned into a Wimbledon nightmare after the Roland Garros runner-up was knocked out in the first round by Thai qualifier Mananchaya Sawangkaew.
Last month, Chwalinska made history by becoming the first play to advance to the French Open final as a qualifier, losing to Mirra Andreeva while ranked as the world No 114 in Paris.
Due to Chwalinska’s historic run coming after the direct cut-off for Wimbledon, the Polish player was in the extremely rare position of requiring a wildcard but entering the singles draw as the 20th seed.
However, the 24-year-old crashed down to earth as she lost 2-6 7-5 6-2 to the Thai qualifier Sawangkaew, who is ranked 164th in the world. Chwalinska took a medical timeout after slipping and hurting her ankle on match point, which came in the second set. Her movement was limited after slipping on the grass and turning her foot.
“I'm definitely very disappointed. I was one point from winning the match.,” Chwalinska said. “It's a grand slam. It's tennis, it's sport, so I will lose many more like this, and I will hopefully win some like that.