The hope of a British champion at this year’s Wimbledon has come to an end after Emma Raducanu was beaten by qualifier Lulu Sun in the fourth round.
Raducanu, who is currently ranked eight places lower than her opponent, struggled to gain consistency on the court as she bowed out 6-2, 5-7, 6-2. The loss will be a bitter pill for the Brit to swallow after what has been a promising grass swing where she reached the semi-finals of the Nottingham Open and beat two top 10 players, including Maria Sakkari in the third round.
The 21-year-old’s exit from SW19 comes a day after she pulled out of the mixed doubles tournament with Andy Murray due to soreness in her right wrist. Last year she had surgery to remove growths of bone – called carpal bosses – from her hands that were causing constant wrist pain during practice. However, in her latest match, she wasn’t wearing any support around that area.
Ironically, it was a new injury scare that sounded off the alarm bells after she slipped over on the court and jarred her left ankle right at the start of the deciding set. A big blow for Raducanu who battled valiantly hard to level the match. She then got broken in that very game before dropping serve again later in the decider as Sun rallied towards a milestone victory.
“Emma, it was a great match against her,” the New Zealander said afterwards. “She really dug deep in there to get the win from me, so I really had to fight tooth and nail against her because she’s obviously going to run for every ball and fight until the end. I don’t even have the words right now!”
Sun has become the first qualifier to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon since Kaia Kanepi in 2010. The 23-year-old only made her WTA main draw debut last year at the Morocco Open after playing tennis at Texas University where she was a standout player. She opted to go down the college route despite being the first player born in 2001 to gain a WTA ranking point ahead of the likes of Iga Swiatek, Amanda Anisimova and Anastasia Potapova.
“While walking through the Centre Court, I was just looking around and taking it all in for the first time. I’m just super happy to be able to play on this court in front of all of you. It’s just such an amazing experience for me.” She reflected.
The triumph over Raducanu saw her hit 33 more winners than her opponent. She also won 67% on her first service points.
As a result of her Wimbledon run, Sun will become the first player from New Zealand to break into the WTA 100 since Marina Erakovic in 2015. She is projected to rise into the top 60.
