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Reuters

Much-travelled Lulu Sun has taken a circuitous route to arrive in the fourth round of Wimbledon and become the first New Zealand woman to go that far since 1959.
Qualifier Sun extended her dream run at the All England Club on Friday as she beat China’s Zhu Lin 7-6, 7-6 to set up a clash with British favourite Emma Raducanu.
She will be the huge underdog against the former US Open champion and will have to contend with a partisan Centre Court crowd, but the 23-year-old appears unfazed.
“I wasn’t expecting to be here at this stage, but I’ve just been playing match by match. But yeah, here I am,” she said.
The travelling life is the norm for professional tennis players these days, but left-hander Sun was crossing the globe before even picking up a racquet. So a venture to Centre Court will be just another place she can tick off.

Sun was born in the south of New Zealand to a Croatian father and Chinese mother and lived with her mum and grandmother in a small town with “more sheep and deer” than people.
Explaining her complicated early path to curious media, she said she then moved to Shanghai, before moving to Switzerland where she began life on the road as an up-and-coming junior tennis player.
“I didn’t spend too much time there when I started playing more and more juniors,” said Sun, who now lives in Geneva.
Prioritising her education, she then studied political science in the United States in Austin, Texas, before focusing on her tennis career.
She made her grand slam main draw debut at the Australian Open after qualifying and also came through the Wimbledon qualifiers to book her debut at the grass court slam.
After knocking out Chinese eighth seed Zheng Qinwen in the first round, the 123rd-ranked Sun has gone from strength to strength to guarantee a pay cheque of at least £266,000 (US$340,905).
Not bad for a player whose career earnings to date, according to the WTA, are US$313,000.
There are similarities between Sun and Raducanu even if their tennis careers have taken very different paths.
Raducanu’s mum is Chinese, her dad Romanian and she was born in Canada and the British player has said in the past that the blend has helped her on the court. Likewise Sun.
“Chinese obviously from my mom’s side, is very disciplined, hard-working. From my dad’s side, Croatian, he’s from the seaside, so very laid back and calm,” she said.
“I guess that’s a good combo. And then Swiss side is, like, neutral, yeah. From New Zealand I get that adventure side.”
The last woman from New Zealand to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon was Ruia Morrison.


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Lulu Sun plays a backhand return to Lin Zhu during their third round women’s singles match at Wimbledon. Photo: AP

Zhu Lin was the second Chinese player to lose to Lulu Sun in the women’s singles. Photo: AP

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Sport

Tennis

New Zealand’s Lulu Sun, who has a Chinese mother, beat China’s Zhu Lin to extend dream run at All England Club


New Zealand’s Lulu Sun, who has a Chinese mother, beat China’s Zhu Lin to extend dream run at All England Club.


Croatia

Zheng Qinwen

Romania

Sun continues to rise at Wimbledon, where Emma Raducanu awaits in fourth round

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}New Zealand’s Lulu Sun, who has a Chinese mother, beat China’s Zhu Lin to extend dream run at All England Club

New Zealand’s Lulu Sun, who has a Chinese mother, beat China’s Zhu Lin to extend dream run at All England Club