Iga Swiatek Thrashes Lucky Loser Lys To Reach Second Career Quarter-Final At Australian Open
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Iga Swiatek didn't have too many issues against lucky loser Eva Lys to reach the quarter-finals of the 2025 Australian Open.
The Polish player has been flying under the radar at the Australian Open this year. Although she's the WTA World No. 2 player, all the focus has been on Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff, as they are considered to be the two main favorites by many pundits.
However, since Sabalenka and Gauff are in the same part, Swiatek has a bit easier path to the final, and she's been making good use of it. She totally destroyed Emma Raducanu in the third round, and she won her fourth-round match with a very similar scoreline.
The Pole's opponent was 23 years old Eva Lys, who started her journey in Melbourne already a couple of weeks ago. She had to play through the qualifying, but she wasn't successful, as she lost to Destanee Aiava in the final round of the qualifying.
Luckily for her, she made it to the main draw as a lucky loser, and she made very good use of her fortune. She bested Kimberly Birrell, Varvara Gracheva, and Jaqueline Cristian, who were all opponents ranked inside of the Top 60 on the WTA Tour.
However, her fourth-round opponent was Swiatek, and the Polish player fully showed the German lucky loser what the top level of tennis looks like. In the past two rounds, Swiatek beat her opponents 6-2, 6-0, and 6-0, 6-1, and she continued her incredible dominance also in this match.
Lys knew what it feels like to play against Swiatek, as the Polish player beat her 6-1, 6-1 when they met in Stuttgart two years ago. This time, the German player got off to a great start.
The second seed made two consecutive unforced errors in the opening game, presenting her opponent with a 40-15 lead. However, Lys couldn't use the two break points, as Swiatek won the first game of the match.
She then started hitting every corner of the court, breaking the lucky loser in the next game. With ease, Swiatek also held in her following service games, and after her opponent started making errors, the Pole broke to lead 4-0.
It wasn't looking too good for the German player, who was serving to avoid a bagel when losing 0-5. She fought hard in that game, but a forehand winner from Swiatek meant a 6-0 win in the first set, to the disappointment of the German player and crowd at the Rod Laver Arena.
For a moment, it seemed that the World No. 128 player would lose the match 0-6, 0-6, as Swiatek led already 3-0 in the second set. However, that's when the German won her first game of the match, and she showed some resistance after that.
Lys kept fighting, and when her opponent led 4-1 in the second set, they played the longest game of the match. They had to go through six deuces, fighting for over 10 minutes, but ultimately, Swiatek won the game.
After that, she held her serve again to win the match 6-0, 6-1. That means she lost only four games in her last three matches, and in the quarter-finals of the tournament, the Polish player will take on the winner of the match between Emma Navarro and Daria Kasatkina.
