Eva Lys dupes Peyton Stearns: German tennis hope makes a big statement at the French Open

Eva Lys is in the main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time. She impressively demonstrated in Paris that the tennis player belongs there. Another German is already out.

Buoyed by her role as Germany's number one, Eva Lys stormed into the second round of the French Open. Against the 28th-seeded Peyton Stearns of the USA, the 23-year-old from Hamburg delivered a nearly flawless performance in Paris, overcoming the opening hurdle for the first time at Stade Roland Garros with a 6-0, 6-3 victory.

"I'm very happy with my performance. I finally played Eva tennis for two sets," said the world number 59. "Being the German number one is a great honor for me. I think that inspires me," said the Kyiv-born Lys, who now faces Canadian qualifier Victoria Mboko.

Special praise from Rittner

In changeable weather, Lys dominated from the start. Lys dominated the proceedings and put the favored American under pressure. Stearns had recently impressed by reaching the semifinals in Rome, but was unable to find a way to counter Lys. "That was a top score," said Eurosport expert Barbara Rittner about the performance of Germany's current best player.

Lys herself attributed her strong performance primarily to the fact that she had finally stayed healthy for an extended period. The German hopeful suffers from the rheumatic autoimmune disease spondyloarthritis and has therefore had to take repeated breaks in the past.

"I was diagnosed in 2020, and I think 2025 is the first year where I'll really have it under control. Three more tournaments and I've already played more this year than I did all of last year," said Lys, who has made a big leap forward this year because of this.

Breakthrough in Australia

At the beginning of the year, Lys caused a sensation by reaching the round of 16 at the Australian Open. She had actually been eliminated in qualifying at the first Grand Slam tournament of the season, but entered the main draw as a so-called lucky loser and seized her opportunity. In Paris, she's directly into the main draw for the first time in her career, thus avoiding the grueling path through qualifying.

This was clearly noticeable against Stearns. Lys started off brilliantly, winning the first eight games in a row. Then the American improved, and the match threatened to tip over. But Lys stood her ground, weathering several critical phases and converting her fourth match point after 1:18 hours.

The end for Siegemund

Laura Siegemund, however, was eliminated in Paris. The 37-year-old was defeated by Hungarian Anna Bondar 6:7 (2:7), 3:6. The Swabian missed numerous opportunities, especially in the first set. Although Siegemund fought to avoid elimination until the end, she could not avert the avoidable defeat. World number one Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus had no trouble, defeating Russian Kamilla Rakhimova 6:1, 6:0. Ukrainian Yelina Svitolina also had an easy game, winning 6:1, 6:1 against Zeynep Sönmez of Turkey.

Meanwhile, Yannick Hanfmann clearly missed the chance to pull off an opening upset. The 33-year-old lost to eighth-seeded Italian Lorenzo Musetti 5:7, 2:6, 0:6, becoming the first of five German men to be eliminated. In the first set, Hanfmann came close to winning the set at 5:4 and 30:0, with Musetti serving. With a bit of luck and a lot of class, however, the Italian broke free from the pressure and firmly controlled the match. "The first set was really tough. I'm happy with how things went after that," said Musetti: "In the first round, you never want to have to work too long on the court."