Kiwi tennis player Lulu Sun continues to shine in her Wimbledon campaign, surging to a second round comeback win over fellow qualifier Yuliia Starodubtseva of Ukraine.
Sun advanced to the third round of a grand slam for the first time in her career with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victoryon court 16.
The Te Anau-born Sun, who changed allegiances from Switzerland earlier in the year, had an early break in the third set before finishing the stronger to close out the match.
She’s the first New Zealand singles player since Marina Erakovic to move beyond the second round. Erakovic reached the third round on three occasions (2008, 2013, 2016).
Just like her opening round match, Sun lost the first set before coming out hot in the second. It’s been an impressive run for the Kiwi after she had to win three qualifying matches to make the main draw.
She will face China’s Lin Zhu, world number 61, in the next round after she beat 25th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in straight sets. It will also be her first appearance in the third round at Wimbledon.
Sun earns at least £143,000 ($298,594) for reaching the third round.
Should Sun win her next match there’s a potential clash awaiting on one of the main courts with local wildcard and former US Open winner Emma Raducanu facing ninth seed Maria Sakkari.
Cameron McMillan has been a sports journalist since 2003 and is NZME’s Deputy Head of Sport. A career highlight was live blogging the 2011 Rugby World Cup final from Eden Park (in a media box surrounded by French journalists).
