Eva Lys’ fairytale run at Melbourne Park continues after the lucky loser world No. 128 came back from a set down to beat Jaqueline Cristian 4-6 6-3 6-3 and progress into the Australian Open round-of-16.
After losing her serve twice in a shaky start to the match and dropping the opener, the German bounced back in the second set with two breaks to force a decider.
In the third set, the world No. 128 completed her comeback with breaks in the first and ninth games.
By beating Cristian, Lys also wrote Australian Open history and became the first player since 1988 to reach the round-of-16 at the tournament as a lucky loser.
Eva Lys© Australian Open/Instagram – Fair Use
As a reward for her great run, the 23-year-old will get a chance to play five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek for a place in the quarterfinal.
Previously, the two met once as the Polish tennis star dominated 6-1 6-1 in their 2022 Stuttgart match.
Lys was close to leaving Melbourne
After suffering a tight three-set defeat in the Australian Open qualifying, the world No. 128 stayed in Melbourne hoping she could get in as a lucky loser.
And that happened after Anna Kalinskaya withdrew very late from her opening match against Kimberley Birrell.
But since the Russian tennis star pulled out so late from her match, Lys basically had only 10 minutes to get ready.
“I don’t think I have any words to describe it yet. I found out about it 10 minutes before the match so I didn’t have time to get nervous,” the 23-year-old said earlier in the tournament.
“I was panicking a little bit because I didn’t really prepare my drinks. I didn’t have match clothes on so I went to the locker room, got changed straight away, and then they called my name.”
Tennis World USA