Unheralded New Zealand qualifier has beaten Raducanu and her run to quarter-finals has illuminated tournament
Before Emma Raducanu won the US Open in 2021, the idea that someone could win three matches to qualify for the main draw of a grand slam and then go all the way to the title seemed outlandish, if not plain ridiculous. That lightning might strike twice, in the name of Lulu Sun, a woman few even inside the tennis world had heard of before this week, seems almost insane.
But it’s possible. Ranked 123, the 23-year-old Sun shocked the No 8 seed Qinwen Zheng in the first round and then, on Sunday, ended Raducanu’s hopes of reaching a first Wimbledon quarter-final with a brilliant performance on Centre Court, whipping her lefty forehand into the corners to take her place in the last eight.