Rain and England are synonymous! This year, the unpredictable weather has caused multiple disruptions to outdoor matches, with blustery winds and downpours halting play. However, amidst the disruptions, one player has been a bright spot at SW19 – Lulu Sun! New Zealand’s 23-year-old tennis star has been running the show here with her fiery style of play. Her incredible performances have drawn praise from several superstars of the tennis world, and one of them is Stefanos Tsitsipas.

“Qualifiers are dangerous” – this is what Raducanu had said before her match against Sun and guess what? On Sunday, wild card Raducanu‘s dream run was brought to an end by the qualifier, Lulu, in the R16 of the Wimbledon Championships. She defeated the Brit by 6-2,5-7,6-2 to become the second woman from ‘The Land of Kiwis’  to reach a major quarterfinal in the Open era, following Belinda Cordwell at the 1989 Australian Open. She had won just two tour-level main draw matches in her career before arriving in London. Now, she has won four more in just 7 days. 

While Lulu has gracefully advanced to the QFs, Tsitsipas’ Wimbledon dream was shattered in the second round! A marathon upset by Finnish standout Emil Ruusuvuori (7-6(6), 7-6(10), 3-6, 6-3) sent the Greek star packing early. Tsitsipas crashed out early (6 Wimbledon appearances), while newcomer Sun (first Centre Court match) thrived. Maybe that’s why Tsitsipas joked about her being the only sunshine this week.

If we look at her numbers in this tournament, Sun has played a total of 1195 points including the qualifiers so far. She has hit a winner in 243 of them and that’s nearly about 1/5 of every point. Moreover, she has also become the second-lowest ranked (123) player in the last fifteen editions of the tournament to make it into the QF here after Serena Williams (181) in 2018. Who would know the Sun would make the headlines on rainy days? Her incredible performance in the last match drew praise even from her opponent!

Raducanu makes a bold statement surrounding Sun

Raducanu reached the fourth round without dropping a set. British fans took a deep breath after seeing her play some incredible tennis throughout the past few days, but destiny had other plans. Raducanu slipped on the baseline in the first game of the third set, the game was stopped at 15-30 on the Brit’s serve. She was seen receiving treatment on her leg and back. Did this injury play a crucial role in deciding the fate of the match?

Well, that still remains a question to be answered, but this loss means there will be no British players left in the singles draws at the Wimbledon Championships this year. Being the last Brit in the WTA side Emma praised Lulu’s level that handed her a disappointing loss. “Level-wise, I think she’s playing better than all my previous opponents,” said Emma Raducanu.

She said she was very much aware of Sun’s aggressive style of play, the New Zealander kept swinging hard throughout the match. The Brit gives full credit to her opponent for doing that continuously, however, she looked quite disappointed with the result. Do you think Lulu Sun can beat Croatia’s Donna Vekic in the QF and create yet another historic moment in her career?

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