Coco Gauff expressed high hopes for Eva Lys earlier this year after practicing together in Stuttgart. The two have developed a close friendship on the WTA Tour and played against each other at the China Open last year, where Gauff won 6-3, 6-4. Gauff praised Lys’ potential, noting her strong baseline play and clean strokes, and predicted that once she stays healthy, she could reach the top of the rankings.
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Despite this encouragement, Lys experienced a disappointing defeat at the Sao Paolo Open, losing to Nadia Podoroska, ranked world number 317. Podoroska, a former Roland Garros semi-finalist, had not advanced to the quarter-finals of any WTA event in two years prior to this match.
Lys began the 2026 season with a career-high ranking of 39 after a successful previous year, which included a fourth-round run at the Australian Open and a quarter-final appearance at the China Open, where she defeated current world number one Elena Rybakina. However, she has struggled this season, battling spondylarthritis, an autoimmune condition affecting her spine and joints, and has dropped to 99th in the rankings after losing seven of her last nine matches.
In Sao Paolo, Lys entered the tournament as the fifth seed and managed to win her first match against Brazilian wildcard Gabriela Ce, overcoming a 5-3 deficit in the deciding set. However, her second-round loss to Podoroska marked her 17th defeat in 25 matches on the WTA Tour this year.
Lys achieved her best Grand Slam result at the Australian Open last year, but her current ranking puts her at risk of not qualifying directly for next year’s tournament. With 390 ranking points to defend by the end of the season, she must perform well to maintain her standing. Significant points are on the line from her quarter-final run at the China Open, and she will next compete at the Korea Open, which has been downgraded from a WTA 500 to a WTA 250 event this year, complicating her ability to earn points.