Emma Raducanu's run at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships is over as the Brit was stunned by the tournament's sensation Lulu Sun in three sets.
The New Zealander has been playing amazing tennis out of nowhere and is now in the quarter-final of the grass-court major. Sun's story is similar to Raducanu's: she was born to a Chinese mother and a European father, but represents a different country than the one in which she was born, in her case, New Zealand, after switching allegiance from Switzerland.
She's a qualifier who won three matches to find herself in the main draw. Then she added a few more wins, including one over this year's Australian Open finalist Qinwen Zheng, to get to this stage, and in this match, she bested the biggest hope of British tennis.
Raducanu has been playing amazing tennis so far, winning a few tricky matchups to get to the fourth round. Unfortunately, she's also dealing with some physical issues, as a sore wrist forced her to withdraw from the mixed doubles match she was supposed to play with Andy Murray.
It's not clear how much the wrist bothered Raducanu in this match, if at all, but her journey at SW19 is over. Sun produced a sensational effort to down the Brit in a very competitive affair.
Raducanu can hit really well, but what a hitting clinic this was from the New Zealander. She had 15 winners and only two unforced errors in the opening set, which she won 6-2.
The second set was far more competitive, as the 2021 US Open winner somehow walked a very fine line between barely holding her serve and losing the match on the spot.
Sun was still the more aggressive player and hit the ball better, but in crucial moments, she overhit a bit, preventing her from closing the match. That overhitting ultimately lost her the second set, as Raducanu won it 7-5 to force the decider.
The British player also had a slip in the opening game of the final set, which required a lengthy medical timeout. She was able to continue playing but ultimately didn't have enough to turn around the match, as the qualifier's dream continued after winning 6-2, 5-7, 6-2.
| Emma Raducanu | Lulu Sun | |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Aces | 4 |
| 2 | Double Faults | 4 |
| 68% | First Serve % | 54% |
| 54% (39/72) | Points Won After First Serve % | 69% (37/54) |
| 53% (18/34) | Points Won After Second Serve % | 54% (25/46) |
| 40% (2/5) | Break Point Conversion | 38% (5/13) |
| 19 | Winners | 52 |
| 21 | Unforced Errors | 44 |