(Video) Emotional Eva Lys bursting with joy after reaching China Open quarter-final

Eva Lys was full of emotion after she reached her first WTA 1000 quarter-final with a win over McCartney Kessler 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 in the China Open. The German will rise into the top 50 for the first time in her career.

It has been an incredible week for the 23-year-old, who has broken out onto the main stage in fine fashion, and at one of the most competitive events on the WTA circuit, with the majority of the big players competing. Despite this, Lys has managed to make the most of the experience, carrying on her good form throughout the season. She has only failed to participate in one WTA 1000 event and has one at least one match in all the ones she has featured in apart from Indian Wells.

Lys commenced her tournament against the world number 836 Ruien Zhang, who had been entered into the tournament as a wildcard. She was comprehensively beaten by Lys, how only dropped one game throughout the 54 minutes on court, coming out on top 6-1, 6-0.

It would be a trickier test in the next round, with touted superstar Iva Jovic her next opponent. The 17-year-old recently won the WTA 500 Guadalajara Open title, making tennis fans aware of her class despite her tender age. Ranked as the 32nd player in the tournament, her rise has been incredible, but she could not continue it with another victory.

Lys took command in the first set after breaking late on to allow her to serve out the set which she did with no issues. The score was 3-3 in the second set after the pair each nicked a brace of breaks, but it would be the American who found the last and most important break of serve, levelling up proceedings. More breaks were traded at the start of the third set, but Jovic, took full control with a 5-2 lead. However, Lys was not giving up there, sweeping up the remaining five games to win the final set 7-5 and go through to her second 1000 third round.

She would break new ground her by not just making it to her maiden fourth round, but defeating a top 10 player for the first time in the form of former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in a huge shock. Lys took the first set after it was closely contested, but was ruthlessly pegged back by the Kazakhstani, who won the final four games in set two to force a third and final set. Rybakina found a break to go 4-3 up, but Lys responded with a break of her own, before holding serve to go one game away. After squandering two match points on the Rybakina serve, she was not going to make the same mistake three times, and dumped out the former semi-finalist.

In her most recent match against Kessler, she once again found herself in a battle, losing the first set despite breaking back twice. Lys would then respond in ominous fashion, going 4-0 ahead before holding to love to force a third consecutive final set decider for the German. This past experience may have come in handy for this, as she raced into a 5-2 lead, before surviving a break point from her opponent to set up match point, which she clinched with no problem.

Lys could not control her emotions after the match, with a huge amount of joy and pride coming out. She will make her debut in the top 50 once the tournament concludes, and her story is not done yet. Awaiting her in the quarter-finals is two-time Grand Slam champion Coco Gauff, who herself has come through an array of battles in Beijing. The defending champion will prove to be a tough test for Lys, but she will fancy herself in overthrowing another major and top 10 winner to progress further than she has ever gone before.