Eva Lys: From Lucky Loser to Australian Open's Fourth Round Sensation

Less than a week ago, Germany's Eva Lys was planning her flight out of Melbourne, having fallen at the final hurdle of qualifying for the Australian Open main draw, losing to local Destanee Aiava in the third and final round. The 23-year-old world No. 128 was set to depart Melbourne with a nice pay packet; those who win through to the final round of qualifying take home AU$72,000 (US$44,500), enough to cover their travel and accommodation Down Under, and set themselves up for their next few tournaments. But in a twist of fate, Lys will now walk away from the Australian Open with a "life-changing" amount of money, at least AU$420,000 (US$260,000) and nearly six times her qualifying pay packet, after she won through to the fourth round on Saturday in what is now easily her best return at a major. How? Lys never got on the flight out of Australia. She stuck around in Melbourne until Tuesday, the last of three days of first-round action, on the off chance she'd become what's called a "lucky loser" -- a ticket into the main draw when someone withdraws before their first match, usually due to injury or illness. Things were looking grim until she got a phone call Tuesday afternoon. Anna Kalinskaya, the 13th seed, had withdrawn from the tournament with a virus. "I found out about Anna ten minutes before the match, so I didn't have time to get nervous," Lys said after her first-round win over Kimberley Birrell, 6-2, 6-2. The wins just kept coming. Lys took down Varvara Gracheva in the second round in three hard-fought sets. "I was always telling myself in the third set, 'Listen, you could have been at home by now, but you're on court. Try enjoying it, try making the best out of it,'" she said following that triumph. And on Saturday, Lys beat Jacqueline Cristian in the third round, in doing so becoming the first lucky loser to advance this far at the Australian Open, and just the sixth lucky loser to make the Round of 16 at a major in the Open Era, along with Elina Avanesyan (2023 French Open), Maria Jose Gaidano (1993 US Open), Nicole Muns-Jagerman (1988 French Open), Dana Gilbert (1982 French Open), and Hana Strachonova (1980 French Open). " obviously I'm very, very happy to be making it to the second week, I feel like the second week was always such a dream for me," Lys said after her third-round win. "It definitely doesn't feel real for me right now. I don't know when the realization will kick in. It's definitely just an amazing situation to be in, especially knowing that I was lucky loser." Lys reflected on her week, describing how whirlwind it had been. "I found a picture of me sleeping [at Melbourne Park] the day I got in [to the main draw]. I was just trying to spend the time at the venue, trying to do something because I didn't really know what to do with my time. I was just preparing for my flight the next day," she said. "It's definitely an insane story, also for me, how it happened, how fast it happened. It's been just a couple of days. Those days have totally changed my life. So definitely really thankful." Lys will play No. 2 in the world Iga Swiatek in the fourth round.