Eva Lys delivered an outstanding performance today to beat world No. 70 Kamilla Rakhimova 6-1 6-3 in the Dubai qualifying final round.
After being one of the best stories of this year’s Australian Open and making the round-of-16 as a lucky loser, the rising German came to the United Arab Emirates this week hoping to secure a main draw spot.
On Friday, the German – who is enjoying a career-high ranking of No. 91 in the world – was 4-6 6-1 2-0 up on Ann Li before the American retired.
Today, Lys returned to the court and she was all business after impressively winning seven games in a row early in the match to open a 6-1 2-0 lead.
In the fifth game of the second set, the 23-year-old earned another break to go 4-1 up before also serving out the next game for a 5-1 lead.
While the German struggled a bit to close out the match after not converting a match point in the seventh game and then also failed to serve out for the match in the eighth game, she remained calm and closed out the match in the ninth game by collecting her fifth break of the match.
Last year, she attempted to make the Dubai main draw through qualifying but didn’t succeed after losing to Clara Burel in the qualies final round.
Can Lys make a run in Dubai and clinch her first WTA 1000 main draw win?
At the Australian Open, the 23-year-old reached a Grand Slam second week for the first time in her career – became the first lucky loser since 1988 to make the round-of-16 at Melbourne Park – and also secured a top-100 ranking for the first time in her career.
Now, she will be looking to also make some noise in Dubai and register a main draw win at the WTA 1000 level for the first time in her career.
“It’s definitely I think the nicest week I’ve had in my life just because it wasn’t really only about the result, but also about the whole story,” Lys said after concluding her Australian Open run.
The rising German star will learn her Dubai first-round opponent after the qualifying event concludes today and the qualifiers get placed in the main draw.
Tennis World USA