Incredible ball striking from Eva today. Especially in S2.

Poor Kim. She was so disappointed with herself. Couldn’t hit a serve to save her life today.

 

I'm so happy.

 

Right. We don’t need Aussies in Top 100

 

Eva just said she found out she was playing 5 minutes before the match began

She had already signed in and was waiting, but it would still come as a shock

Eva has such free flowing strokes and played amazing. Such an infectious personality too

 

Running on adrenaline feeling lucky forgetting loser and getting a birthday present for herself.

 

 

Why players can't withdraw earlier.. what does 1 hour difference would make

 

Happy for Eva!

Finally some luck coming her way - second round is doable too...

 

Kim likely physically and mentally fatigued but it was still a lifeless performance.

I am happy for Eva though, such a bubbly and gracious young lady.

 

 

Eva is one of the sweetest players on tour, delighted to see her advance ❤

 

Seeing the way Birrell acted in her tough Q3 match, along with how many matches she's played, it's understandable that her physical and mental energy reserves were low.

Lucky break for the lovely Lys. Well done taking advantage with solid play

 

Seeing the way Birrell acted in her tough Q3 match, along with how many matches she's played, it's understandable that her physical and mental energy reserves were low.

Lucky break for the lovely Lys. Well done taking advantage with solid play

Really? It's the main draw of her home grand slam, she's had several rest days - and her 'energy' was low? Seriously???

Well done, Eva

 

All last minute LLs have made it to the 2R, lol

See what playing suddenly and with no pressure or expectation does for WTA players 😋

 

Birrell actually has a better chance against Kalinskaya than Lys. And she has been playing a lot lately, not to mention she's probably prepared strategies and tactics against Kalinskaya but with Skaya withdrawing she went in blind and being a relatively inexperienced player she got overwhelmed which is understandable.
Happy for Lys though.

 

Jimmie somehow makes Eva look unattractive, what a shite photographer

 

Birrell was pretty tight at the start but Eva played exceptionally well and never gave her room to settle. Even when she hit a double or two she just responded with a series of biting returns. I’ve never seen her play so well and I think the late call up giving her the ability to swing freely with no expectation was a massive advantage.

Kim by contrast flipped from underdog with home support, in form against a lot top player she knew she could beat under an injury cloud to playing a random she had zero intel on with a suddenly very open section of the draw. She’s looked mentally spent for a while and when Lys refused to roll over and redlined that was that.

Super happy for Eva, absolutely deserved. Tough for Kim but she’s had a great few weeks and can springboard to a great season where she’ll likely have MD entry into all the slams.

 

I can take Eva winning this way, by a very late (LL) spot, but NOT Dart.
Congrats to Eva.

 

Eva is one of the nicest players on tour, it's lovely for her to get the win.

 

Best result for Eva at the Australian Open and second time she reaches second round of a Grand Slam. Sweet win .

Eva with 20 winners today, Birrell with just 4.

 

Well done to Eva for making the most of the opportunity!

Not buying the argument that Birrell was tired from qualifying which finished almost a week ago now. It sounds like she was simply outplayed.

 

This was her 8th match to start the season. Her last two qualifying matches were both just shy of 3 hours. But it's not really that she was tired from too much tennis. She felt lots of pressure to qualify being Australia's #1, and having just had a good tournament in Brisbane. She probably thought she deserved a WC, so she may have felt indignant. She was overly emotional during qualifying.

That's why I mentioned her reactions have been over the top and hint at someone that is burning a lot of emotional energy. The fact that she was crying after qualifying (not to mention how she was actually behaving during the matches), then crying after losing today and saying she was 'rattled' by the last-minute change of opponent. Being wound up for weeks takes it out of you.

 

Crazy fact: There are actually more LL players (2 with Lys and Dart) who made it into second round of the Australian Open than qualifiers (only 1 so far with Aiava)!

 

Tournament organisers: Oh no, the best looking woman in the draw has withdrawn injured. What are we going to do?

Sorted.

 

Really lucky for Lys! Not only facing a qualifier but landing in a depleted section. Watch her reaching R4 now. 😆

What a flop from Birrell lol, it was her chance

 

Hopefully it will be a breakthrough year for the German. She’s definitely a better player than Birrel and Aiava whom she lost in Q3.

 

After match interview with Eva :

 

Oh, please. 🤦‍♂️ Never have I heard this used as an excuse for a player losing a match in a Grand Slam in almost 20 years of watching the sport.

And I’m sorry but if all this is true and she was low energy for a home Grand Slam and/or rattled by having to play a lucky loser at the last minute (surely Lys was the one at a disadvantage not knowing she was playing until 5-10 minutes before?), maybe tennis just isn’t the profession for her?

I'm not even particularly a fan of hers. And I agree. She seems like she has a Type A personality and would be easily thrown off by things out of her control, like not knowing her opponent in advance. Most players have shortcomings though. Not everyone is top 5 material.

All I know is she's better than losing 2 & 2 to Lys, unless she had a bad day or Lys played above her usual level. If it's the former, I just gave reasons that might have contributed to her having a bad day.

Sounds like Birrell wet the bed basically. All the pressure to do well got too much for her and she just froze mentally. Still, it looks like she will re-enter the top 100 after the AO, unless just about everyone ranked just below her goes on some sort of improbable AO win streak.

Full marks to Eva, making the most of the occasion and an opponent who would have been cheered on to victory most probably if the match had been close but never got into the match due to nerves.