Kimberly Birrell's Australian Open campaign has ended in the first-round, but not against the opponent she expected to face, prompting calls for change.
The Aussie qualifier exited Melbourne Park after suffering a 6-2 6-2 defeat at the hands of Germany's Eva Lys on KIA Arena.
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However, in quite extraordinary scenes, Lys was a last-minute replacement for 13th-seed Anna Kalinskaya, who suddenly withdrew before a ball was hit.
Lys took full advantage of her 'Lucky Loser' status, seemingly looking fresher of the two players despite both women playing in three rounds of qualifying last week.
The 23-year-old German fell short in the third-round of qualifying, defeated by Australia's Destanee Aiava in three sets.
But it's now posed the question as to whether Birrell should've automatically progressed to the next round, given she prepared accordingly to trade rallies with Kalinskaya.
After the match, Birrell admitted that the late withdrawal threw her off guard.
"Yeah, absolutely [it did]. I had prepared to play Anna. She's a really amazing player. I knew that I was in for a battle against her, and I had done my research and spoke a lot with my team. Unfortunately, that isn't who I faced today," she said.
"Then to find out that she withdrew and that I was playing someone completely different, it did rattle me, unfortunately.
"But, in saying that, she was in the same position as me. She didn't know that she was going to be playing, so we were both put in pretty tough situations. I take responsibility for not handling that, and credit to her."
When asked how soon before the match she realised Kalinskaya would not be featuring, Birrell shared what she knew.
"I couldn't give you an exact time. I know that it was not very long before the end of the men's match. I know Eva said five minutes. It felt like five minutes, but I'm not exactly sure exactly how long."
One comment on X read: "Geez when is the forfeit cutoff! Unfair on Kim...she would have prepped to play one player, now has to play another?"
"Bit unfair her original opponent pulls out minutes before her match, should've been a walkover," wrote another fan on Facebook.
Lys was seeded No.23 in qualifying last week, but to her credit, stuck around in case a late withdrawal occurred, which is common before the first-round of any tournament.
From the second-round onwards, if a player withdraws before a match has commenced, the Lucky Loser scenario does not come into effect.
It is not yet known why Kalinskaya withdrew from her scheduled meeting against Birrell.
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