Typically, seven victories at a Grand Slam tournament means you leave with the trophy. While Lulu Sun's not there yet quite yet at Wimbledon, she's making a statement all her own.
The qualifier has been the Cinderella story of this year's women's tournament at the All England Club, and with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 win over 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu at Centre Court on Sunday, she's through to the quarterfinals of the grass-court major in just her second career Grand Slam main draw.
The first player from New Zealand to reach the quarterfinals at the tournament in the Open Era, Sun is the seventh qualifier to make to go this deep at Wimbledon, and first in 14 years.
She barely had words for her achievement. Having entered the Championships ranked No. 123, she'll rise to No. 53 no matter what happens for the rest of the tournament. Her prize money just for reaching the quarterfinals will double her previous career earnings.
“Oh, man,” she said, “it was a great match against her. I really had to fight tooth and nail against her. I’m just incredibly … I don’t even have the words right now.”
Sun, 23, is a bit of a citizen of the world. She was born to a Croatian father and a Chinese mother in New Zealand—a "very small town," she says, "practically more sheep and deer than people"—but raised in Switzerland (a country she previously represented in international competition before switching back to New Zealand earlier this year). She played college tennis at the University of Texas, crossing paths with Peyton Stearns there, and was a member of the 2021 NCAA team champions.
But there was nothing that would foretell a run quite like this, and 12 days ago, Sun saw a 5-1 third-set lead against Czech Gabriela Knutson nearly evaporate in the second round of qualifying, which isn't even played at the All England Club. She saved a match point to win that match, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(6), and in the first round of the main draw, Sun toppled Australian Open finalist Zheng Qinwen for her first career Top 10 win.
Raducanu, resurgent in the grass-court season after having three surgeries in 2023, knows all too well how dangerous qualifiers can be at Grand Slams. The Brit became the first one to ever win a Grand Slam event at Flushing Meadows, when she won 10 matches without losing a set three years ago. But on her home court, as a heavy favorite, she was flustered by another Cinderella who met the moment. A worrisome slip and fall early in the third set, which led to a medical timeout, didn't help matters, though she battled on bravely.
“You don't qualify and make the fourth round if you're not extremely dangerous, beating the players she has," Raducanu said before the match.
Over 2 hours and 50 minutes, Sun hit a staggering 52 winners, many of them off a lethal left-handed forehand that left Raducanu scrambling, to Raducanu's 19. No woman has hit more winners in a Wimbledon match this fortnight thus far. She also won 23 of 28 points when she came to net, and broke Raducanu's serve five times.
There's no reason to think her run ends here. Yes, Sun's next opponent is Donna Vekic, a former Top 20 player. The Croatian does own a grass-court title, and has reached four other finals on the surface, but she too is in uncharted territory, having never before reached a Grand Slam quarterfinal. She came into Wimbledon ranked No. 37, meaning that the bottom half of the women's draw is assured of an unseeded semifinalist.
Three years ago at this time, many would've dubbed it improbable for a qualifier to still be around for the final weekend at a Grand Slam tournament. But now that we've seen one go all the way once ... who's to say we can't see it again?
