WTA WTA Wuhan 2026 Maja Chwalinska Petra Kvitova María José Martínez

Chwalinska, third left-handed player to win a WTA 1000 title

Fernando Murciego - 18 Oct 2026
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Maja Chwalinska, third left-handed player to win a WTA 1000 title. Source: Getty

Maja Chwalinska has not only won the WTA 1000 in Wuhan to kick off her professional career. The Polish player has also managed to enter a particularly revealing statistic: since the current format of the WTA 1000 was introduced in 2009, only three left-handed tennis players have managed to lift a title in this category.

Chwalinska is the latest to join a list that previously included María José Martínez and Petra Kvitova. The figure puts into perspective the uniqueness of a victory that already had enough ingredients to attract attention. Chwalinska came back against Sonay Kartal in the final, turning an unexpected week into the biggest success of her career, but her left-handedness adds another nuance to a triumph that defies expectations and places her alongside two players with very different career paths.

A list as short as it is exclusive

The first to pave this way was the Spanish María José Martínez Sánchez, champion of the WTA 1000 in Rome in 2010. Her victory over Jelena Jankovic confirmed the capability of a player who is able to unsettle her rivals with unconventional tennis, loaded with variations and changes of pace. Then came Petra Kvitova, one of the great left-handers of her generation. The Czech won several titles in this category thanks to a much more aggressive approach, based on the power of her shots and her ability to dominate from the baseline.

Now it is Chwalinska who takes up the baton. The Polish player has found in Wuhan the perfect stage to demonstrate that there are different paths to the top. Her tennis, her left-handedness, and her ability to come back in the final make her a unique champion. At a time when the circuit seems to evolve towards increasingly recognizable patterns, her success recalls that there is still room for players who step outside the script.

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Chwalinska, tercera zurda en conquistar un título de WTA 1000