Dream shattered for Anna Kalinskaya’s understudy

It’s over in the round of 16 at the Australian Open the fairy tale of Eva Lys: the German tennis player, a replacement for the injured Anna Kalinskaya, è was eliminated cleanly in less than an hour by world number two Iga Swiatek with the eloquent score of 6-0, 6-1. Little bad for Eva Lys, who è entered the top 100 of the WTA rankings for the first time thanks to her incredible performance in Melbourne.

Rescued as a “lucky loser” after the last-minute forfeit of Jannik Sinner&#39s fiancée due to a virus, Lys beat in straight sets the autralian Kimberly Birrell, Frenchwoman Gracheva and Romanian Jaqueline Cristian.

Too strong, however, Swiatek, who with Aryna Sabalenka è remained the only tennis player not yet to have lost a set in the first Grand Slam tournament of the season.

“It’s been the best week of my life,” said the 23-year-old German. “Entering as a lucky loser at the last minute, on the last day when it was possible, changing flights, winning the first time, winning the second time, finishing in the top 100, in short, this è the week I have been working for years”.

Holger Rune doesn’t tell Jannik Sinner off

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Holger Rune commented on his defeat to Jannik Sinner in the round of 16 of the Australian Open in a press conference: “I think today was a good and strange match at the same time. Definitely è good to be back to play a match against him. I am disappointed not to have gone further, but happy for the work I am doing with my team. Being back with Lars (Christensen, ed.) feels good. We are doing better results than I have achieved in previous years. It’s only been three months, but I feel like I’m playing better and better”.

The Dane did not like the long stop for the medical time-out asked by the Highlander: “Today è it was a really hot day” although maybe it wasn’t sunny for a while. &It was very humid and you could feel it, è  right that it got checked, I think it took longer than I expected. È it was around ten minutes, maybe more, and it was a little bit brutal in the middle of the set. I had a good momentum at that time. They checked him on the court and then the chair judge said he needed another check to make sure everything was okay. Then he è came back just fine, so I don’t know what they did”.

So he recoiled: “In the first set he played very well and in the second set he was doing well. In the first è he was better than me, in the second I was the best. In the third one until he asked for the medical time-out è it was really a battle, there were long exchanges. It was really really tough. I was almost dying, è it was a struggle and I could see that he was struggling too. Like I said today è it was hot and humid. Especially being 10/12 minutes lì out for the stop sitting on the bench I was cooking, è it was tough. I just had to move around a bit’ and I’ll have to be smarter next time or wait off the field. Anyway sì, è it was too long a break”.

“Playing all matches for more than three hours is certainly not’ideal. I think what I can take away from this tournament è is trying to reach the level at which I played the second set today even earlier in the tournament. So I won’t have to play for three hours or more for all the matches and make it a little bit’ easier for me. Because Jannik, although I don t know the exact times he played, but I think he played less than me in these eight days. I think he was more fresh and that made the difference because he played at a high level and I needed the help of my legs. I had a knee problem last year, so to stop and restart in the middle of the set was difficult. Then I had a good treatment and was fine” concluded Rune.

Jannik Sinner admits: “I was lucky”

After his painful victory over Holger Rune in the round of 16 of the Australian Open, Jannik Sinner spoke in a press conference: “I don’t really want to talk about how I felt today. I was not feeling well and I think it showed that physically I struggled. I knew today was going to be really difficult. I was playing against a tough player and in addition, I was playing a little bit’ against myself. I knew it was going to be like this; and I tried my best to hold on. I think I made it and I am happy to be in the next round”.

“I had already talked to the doctor before going on the field. He did a general checkup and it helped me a little bit,” added the South Tyrolean. “After the break I felt a little bit better when I came back on the court, my face looked better and the color had returned more normal. So they definitely helped me. You know the conditions are challenging, it was very hot yesterday, again today. All players struggle, if in addition; you are not totally healthy è even more difficult”.

The world number one è was also helped by a stroke of luck: at the beginning of the fourth set one of his first serves broke the hook of the lower part of the net, causing a 20-minute stop: “They were very helpful today. No one expected something like that to happen. Usually, if the net breaks, not è in the lower part, the most important part. I was lucky today, you know being 20 minutes off the field helped me recover physically. I put some cold water on my head and è it helped. Really great luck today”.

“Similarities with the match with Medvedev at Wimbledon? No the situation at Wimbledon was completely different. Tonight, before the match I slept a lot and well, if I had not set the alarm clock I would have continued to sleep. But when I got to the clubhouse I felt that I was not well. I tried to put as much energy as I could into this match” Sinner commented.