The 6 lucky losers to reach the last 16 of a Grand Slam as world No 128 makes history

Shahida Jacobs
Pictured: Eva Lys
Eva Lys reacts after winning her match

Only six lucky losers have managed to reach the last 16 of the women’s singles event at a Grand Slam and Eva Lys has become the first player to achieve the feat at the Australian Open.

Wimbledon now remains the only major where the phenomenon has not happened as the achievement has also taken place at Roland Garros (four times) and once at the US Open.

Lys is only the second player in the past three decades to make it to the round of 16 of a Grand Slam.

“I don’t know when the realisation will kick in,” the world No 123 said after her Australian Open heroics.

“It’s definitely an amazing situation to be in, especially knowing that I was a lucky loser.

“It’s an insane story, how fast it happened. Those days have totally changed my life.”

In case you didn’t know, a lucky loser is a player who loses in qualifying, but enters the main draw following the withdrawal of another player. The Grand Slams use a random draw system to determine the order in which players are main draw slots as lucky losers.

The 6 lucky losers to reach the last 16 of a Grand Slam:

Hana Strachonova

The first time a lucky loser reached the last 16 of a major was at Roland Garros in 1980 when Czechoslovakia-born Swiss Strachonova won two matches at the clay-court major.

Strachonova initially lost in the third round of qualifying against Brazil’s Patricia Medrado, but then got a late entry and upset 11th-seeded American Andrea Jaeger in the opening round.

She was eventually beaten in three sets by Dianne Fromholtz from Australia.

Dana Gilbert

Two years after Strachonova’s heroics, Gilbert also made it to the round of 16 at Roland Garros in 1982.

The American entered the tournament in the second round and defeated Jo Durie of Great Britain before beating France’s Catherine Tanvier in the third round. Her journey was ended by fourth seed Andrea Jaeger.

Nicole Muns-Jagerman

The 1988 French Open again had the honour of a lucky loser reaching the last 16.

The Netherlands’ Muns-Jagerman was beaten in the final round of qualifying by Conchita Martinez and she beat two unseeded players and a qualifier before going down in straight sets against Canada’s Helen Kelesi.

Maria Jose Gaidano

The first time a lucky loser reached the last 16 of a Grand Slam outside of Roland Garros was at the 1993 US Open.

Gaidano was the fourth seed in qualifying, but lost the final match against Manon Bollegraf. However, she gained entry as a lucky loser and ended up beating two qualifiers and an unseeded player.

Natasha Zvereva was the player to end her run as she won 6-0, 6-2.

Tennis Features

What is a Lucky Loser in tennis: Rules, how they are chosen and tournament winners

The 8 US women to win the Australian Open title: Gauff looks to join Serena Williams

Elina Avanesyan

It would take nearly another 30 years for the feat to take place again as world No 135 Avanesyan was one of six lucky losers to enter the main draw of the 2023 French Open.

Avanesyan upset 12th seed Belinda Bencic in the first round, then beat wildcard Leolia Jeanjean and qualifier Clara Tauson.

The unseeded Karolina Muchova – who ended up losing the final against Iga Swiatek – beat Avanesyan 6-4, 6-3 in the fourth round.

Eva Lys

The German found out only 10 minutes before her first match that she would play. After losing in the final round of qualifying, she received a lucky loser spot when Anna Kalinskaya withdrew.

The 23-year-old beat qualifier Kimberley Birrell in the first round, Varvera Gracheva in the second round and Jaqueline Cristian in the third round.

Up next is world No 2 Iga Swiatek, but Lys is set to climb into the top 100 of the WTA Rankings for the first time in her career.

She will earn at least A$420,000 (£210,342), which will take her career earnings to $798,163 (£655,413).

“Obviously I’m 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.