Second chance, second week: Lucky loser Eva Lys improbably into Australian Open's last 16

There are just under 350 days left in the year 2025, but human beings and AI will be hard-pressed to find a more improbable story than Eva Lys at the Australian Open.

The 23-year-old from Germany lost in the final round of qualifying, but given about 10 minutes’ notice, she entered the main draw as a lucky loser.

“I didn’t have time to get nervous,” Lys said after her here-we-go, first-round win over Kimberly Birrell, 6-2, 6-2.

That time still hasn’t come. Lys may be playing with house money, but you can’t call her lucky at this point, not after making the most of her opportunity and advancing to the fourth round.

She is the first lucky loser to ever reach the round of 16 of women’s singles at the Australian Open since the tournament relocated to Melbourne Park in 1988.

With her 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 third-round triumph over Jaqueline Cristian, Lys has assured herself some real money—enough to buy a house. Even if she loses her next match to five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek, she'll take home $420,000.

At this point, though, would you really be surprised if Eva took out Iga?

OK, maybe. But if Lys plays the way she did in the third set against Cristian, she might actually have a chance. Lys pulled the trigger whenever an opening presented itself, on both wings. Leading 4-2 in the decider, Lys doubled Cristian in the winner out, 30 to 15. By match's end, it was 34 to 16.

She withstood the hot conditions in Melbourne while her opponent donated errors—Cristian had 46, two more than Lys, but 13 in the third set. Lys also served impeccably, winning 80 percent of her first-serve points in the second set, and 81 percent in the decider.

Most importantly, Lys stayed positive after every point, and especially on the ones she won, punctuating them with fist-pumps. She looked like she belonged in the main draw from the onset, rather than the 128^th-ranked player in the world (not for much longer—she's assured of cracking the Top 100 for the first time).

The opportunity was just as significant for Cristian, the 82^nd-ranked player in the world. But serving to stay in the match at 3-5, she could only watch as more winners flew past her from Lys’ red-hot red Yonex—including on match point.

"The best game she played was the last one," said Andrea Petkovic on the world feed.

It felt as if Cristian was playing against two opponents: a dangerous lucky loser, and a deserving skilled winner.