Thursday, January 16, 2025

AO25 - Lady Luck Be a Lys









=AO NOTES=
...the final day of 2nd Round play was a *second* day at this AO in which #6-seeded Elena Rybakina schooled a teenager. After taking out 16-year old Emerson Jones in the opening round, the Kazakh (the '23 AO finalist) did the same to 17-year old Iva Jovic in her second appearance of the week.

Rybakina's 6-0/6-3 win over Jovic means she's dropped just five games through two rounds, the fewest of any of the remaining 32 women in the draw, though that she was down 3-1 in the 2nd vs. the Bannerette on this day is likely worth noting (for Jovic, but maybe also for Rybakina going forward in this tournament).



Rybakina is one of seven women (all of them seeds) who've given up ten or fewer games thus far. Only two reached the second week a year ago.

5 - #6 Rybakina
6 - #9 Kasatkina
6 - #32 Yastremska ('24 semifinalist)
9 - #4 Paolini
9 - #7 Pegula ('24 4th Rd.)
9 - #2 Swiatek
10 - #11 Badosa




...#19 Madison Keys prevailed in three sets over qualifier Gabriela Ruse, extending the Adelaide champ's winning streak to seven matches. In fact, the four 2025 WTA singles title winners from Weeks 1-2 (Sabalenka and Tauson, who'll face each other on Friday, and Keys and Kessler, who won't) are 6-1 through two rounds at this AO, with only McCartney Kessler having lost in the 1st Round (she'd said she was exhausted after the Hobart final last weekend, so that makes sense).

...the Final 32 includes players from nineteen nations, thirteen of which have just one competitor remaining. The U.S. and Russia are tied for the most with five each, followed by Ukraine (3) and two apiece from Germany, Kazakhstan and Poland.

Two of the players still alive in that group are Emma Navarro and Eva Lys, though both are pretty fortunate that that's the case.

#8 seed Navarro, a semifinalist in NYC in her last slam outing, had to pull out of a 5-3 deficit in the 3rd set in the 1st Round, and saw Peyton Stearns serve for the match before the Charleston native completed a run of 16 of the final 19 points in the match to get the win. In her 2nd Round match on Thursday, Navarro went three sets again, this time staging a comeback from a break down twice in the 3rd vs. Wang Xiyu, including breaking on BP #4 of game 8 to get the set back on serve for the final time at 4-4 before sweeping the remaining two games to equal her 3rd Round result in Melbourne last year.



One would think that such antics would wrap up the "Zombie Queen of Melbourne" award for Navarro, and it *would* have... if not for Lys.

While the just-turned 23-year old German hasn't had to stage comebacks on the court ala the Bannerette, she truly *was* a member of "the walking dead" earlier this week, the last remaining qualifying loser hoping against all hope to somehow find her way into the MD due to the misfortune of another. Lys waited through almost three full days of 1st Round action, and had her plane ticket ready on Tuesday as she was set to leave Melbourne behind when -- boom! -- #13 Anna Kalinskaya was a (very) late withdrawal from her 1st Round match with Kimberly Birrell.

Lys didn't know that she would get a "lucky loser" reprieve until ten minutes before the match was to start. She didn't have her in-match drinks prepared (I mean, why bother, right?), nor was she dressed for a match. But she got the call, raced to the lockerroom to change, and heard her name being called five minutes later. She played Birrell without a pre-match warm-up... and she won 2 & 2. After having fallen in the final round of qualifying to another Aussie, Destanee Aiava, she'd taken advantage of her eleventh hour second chance.

But the world #128 wasn't finished. In her 2nd Round match on Thursday she ousted Varvara Gracheva in three sets, reaching the 3rd Round at a major for the first time ever. Zombie German (still) walkin'.



Lys is the first lucky loser to reach the 3rd Round at the AO since 2018, and just the second since 1997. No LL has reached the women's Round of 16 in Melbourne in the Open era. In fact, only one woman -- Elina Avanesyan in Paris in '23 -- has done so at any major since 1993.

Up next with history on the Lys racket? That'd be Jaqueline Cristian. Will the Romanian have her figurative cape prepared in order to end the German's dream week?





...NOW THAT SHE'S BACK FOR ANOTHER GO-ROUND, THE DANIMAL IS JUST FULLY UNLEASHED AND DOESN'T CARE WHAT ANYONE THINKS ANYMORE (checking notes about whether she *ever* really has... hmmm, umm, yeah, probably not much):




...WELL, I GUESS WE NOW KNOW HOW VERONIKA KUDERMETOVA RESPONDS WHEN HER LITTLE SISTER'S RESULTS START TO SURPASS HER OWN:



Since Polina's run to the Brisbane final (and then follow-up AO Q-run), Veronika has reached the QF in Hobart and is now in the 3rd Round in Melbourne (her best result in a major since 2022). Polina lost her 1st Round AO contest.

Veronika is now right on Polina's heels when it comes to the family ranking lead, with the younger Kudermetova just *one* spot ahead of the older in the live rankings.












Baseball play-by-play legend Bob Uecker passed today. We all know him from Major League, but my favorite moment was during a Brewers-Pirates game when he went on at length about a furry convention at his hotel, never missing a beat in the action. A true professional. RIP Bob youtu.be/Y6pI-kuLVbc?...

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— I.G.Y. Azalea (@steelydad.bsky.social) January 16, 2025 at 11:44 AM














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*RECENT AO "CRASH & BURN"*
2016 Simona Halep, ROU (1st Rd.)
2017 Simona Halep, ROU (1st Rd.)
2018 S.Stephens, C.Vandeweghe & V.Williams, USA (1st/'17 US SF)
2019 Dasha Kasatkina, RUS (1st Rd.; lost last 12 games)
2020 Serena Williams, USA (3rd Rd.)
2021 Sofia Kenin, USA (2nd Rd.; early AO DC out since '03)
2022 E.Raducanu, GBR (2nd) & L.Fernandez, CAN (1st) ['21 US F]
2023 Garbine Muguruza, ESP (1st Rd.; falls from Top 80)
2024 Ons Jabeur, TUN (2nd Rd.; 2 games vs. M.Andreeva)
2025 Zheng Qinwen, CHN (2nd Rd.; '24 finalist)

*RECENT AO "LAST WILD CARD STANDING" WINNERS*
=2017=
Ash Barty, AUS (3rd Rd.)
=2018=
Olivia Rogowska, AUS (2nd Rd.)
=2019=
Kimberly Birrell, AUS (3rd Rd.)
=2020=
Patricia Hon, AUS (both 3rd Rd.)
Arina Rodionova, AUS
=2021=
Dasha Gavrilova, AUS (both 2nd Rd.)
Samantha Stosur, AUS
=2022=
Maddison Inglis, AUS (3rd Rd.)
=2023=
Kimberly Birrell, AUS (all 2nd Rd.)
Olivia Gadecki, AUS
Taylor Townsend, USA
=2024=
McCartney Kessler, USA (both 2nd Rd.)
Caroline Wozniacki, DEN
=2025=
Talia Gibson, AUS (all 2nd Rd.)
Iva Jovic, USA
Ajla Tomljanovic, AUS
Zhang Shuai, CHN

*RECENT AO "LAST AUSSIE STANDING" WINNERS*
2016 Dasha Gavrilova (4th Rd.)
2017 Dasha Gavrilova (4th Rd.)
2018 Ash Barty (3rd Rd.)
2019 Ash Barty (QF)
2020 Ash Barty (SF)
2021 Ash Barty (QF)
2022 Ash Barty (W)
2023 Kimberly Birrell & Olivia Gadecki (2nd Rd.)
2024 Storm Hunter (3rd Rd.)
2025 D.Aiava, T.Gibson & A.Tomljanovic (2nd Rd.)

*RECENT AO "LAST QUALIFIER STANDING" WINNERS*
=2016=
Zhang Shuai, CHN (QF)
=2017=
Mona Barthel, GER (both 4th Rd.)
Jennifer Brady, USA
=2018=
Denisa Allertova, CZE (4th Rd.)
=2019=
Bianca Andreescu, CAN (all 2nd Rd.)
Beatriz Haddad Maia, BRA
Astra Sharma, AUS
Iga Swiatek, POL
Natalia Vikhlyantseva, RUS
=2020=
Harriet Dart, GBR (all 2nd Rd.)
Nao Hibino, JPN
Barbora Krejcikova, CZE
Ann Li, USA
Caty McNally, USA
Greet Minnen, BEL
=2021=
Sara Errani, ITA (both 3rd Rd.)
Kaja Juvan, SLO
=2022=
Hailey Baptiste, USA (all 2nd Rd.)
Lucia Bronzetti, ITA
Martina Trevisan, ITA
Zheng Qinwen, CHN
=2023=
Cristina Bucsa, ESP (both 3rd Rd.)
Katie Volynets, USA
=2024=
Dayana Yastremska, UKR (SF)
=2025=
Destanee Aaiva, AUS (both 2nd Rd.)
Gabriela Ruse, ROU

*RECENT AO "ZOMBIE QUEEN OF MELBOURNE" WINNERS*
2017 Lucie Safarova, CZE
2018 Caroline Wozniacki, DEN
2019 Karolina Pliskova, CZE
2020 Coco Gauff, USA ("Zombie Teen Queen")
2021 Simona Halep, ROU
2022 Amanda Anisimova, USA
2023 Miriam Kolodziejova/Marketa Vondrousova, CZE/CZE
2024 Anna Blinkova, RUS
2025 Eva Lys, GER (LL)




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TOP QUALIFIER: Maja Chwalinska, POL
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): #1 Aryna Sabalenka, BLR
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): x
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): x
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q1 - #20 Maja Chwalinska/POL def. Dominika Salkova/CZE 7-6(3)/5-7/7-6(12-10) - Chwalinska in 3:23, was down a break twice in the 3rd. Salkova served for the win at 5-4, led 7-3 in the deciding MTB and held a pair of MP.
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 1st Rd. - #8 Emma Navarro/USA def. Peyton Stearns/USA 6-7(5)/7-6(5)/7-5 - 3:22 between former NCAA champs; Stearns up set and 2-0, up 5-3 in 3rd and served at 5-4; Navarro wins 16/19 points to end
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): x
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F/WC/Doub.): x
=============================
FIRST VICTORY: #14 Mirra Andreeva/RUS (def. Marie Bouzkova/CZE)
FIRST SEED OUT: #29 Linda Noskova/CZE (1st Rd.- Tauson/DEN)
FIRST SLAM MD WINS: Destanee Aiava/AUS (6th MD), Talia Gibson/AUS (2nd MD), Suzan Lamens/NED (1st MD), Rebecca Sramkova/SVK (5th MD)
PROTECTED RANKING BEST: Belinda Bencic/SUI (in 3r) (2r-Birrell/AUS, Kovinic/MNE)
LUCKY LOSER BEST: Eva Lys/GER (in 3r) (2r-Dart/GBR)
UPSET QUEENS: Great Britain
REVELATION LADIES: Germany
NATION OF POOR SOULS: Czech Republic (1-4 1st Rd.; Kvitova/Pliskova/Krejcikova DNP; Vondrousova; Bouzkova First Loss; Noskova First Seed Out; Beljek 0-5 slam MD)
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Destanee Aiava/AUS and Gabriela Ruse/ROU (both 2nd Rd.)
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: Talia Gibson/AUS, Iva Jovic/USA, Ajla Tomljanovic/AUS(L) and Zhang Shuai/CHN (all 2nd Rd.)
LAST AUSSIE STANDING: Destanee Aiava, Talia Gibson and Ajla Tomljanovic (all 2nd Rd.)
Ms. OPPORTUNITY: x
IT (TBD): x
COMEBACK PLAYER: x
CRASH & BURN: #5 Zheng Qinwen/CHN (2r- 2024 finalist and Olympic Gold medalist out in 2 sets vs. Siegemund/GER)
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF MELBOURNE: Eva Lys/GER (LL added to MD on Day 3 ten minutes before start of 1r match; reaches 3rd Rd. for first time at a major)
KIMIKO VETERAN CUP: x
LADY OF THE EVENING: Nominee: Sabalenka/Dokic
AUSTRALIAN LANGUAGE ARTS AWARD: Nominees: Aiava dons iconic Ivanovic/Sharapova dress designs during Q-run; Sabalenka/Dokic & crowd dance on Laver; Osaka's flowers
DOUBLES STAR: x
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: x





All for now. More soon.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 5:02 PM 

2 Comments:

Blogger Diane said...

Danielle's press conferences are among my favorite. She's totally candid, she has quite a bit of insight, and it's easy to engage with her.

Thu Jan 16, 06:44:00 PM EST  
Blogger khan35 said...

Eva Lys has a real chance of reaching Round of 16 as a LL for the 1st time at Aus Open.

Keys has a match-up advantage against Collins. I really want Rybakina vs Keys to happen in the 4th round.

Jabeur seems to be in good form. She could beat Navarro.

Thu Jan 16, 10:14:00 PM EST  

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