New Zealand's Lulu Sun has created history, winning her way into the fourth round at Wimbledon, defeating China’s Zhu Lin 7-6(4) 7-6(6).
The match started two hours late as a result of rain and again showed Sun's ability to battle in her games especially when facing serving issues. She saved 15 of the 18 break points against her serve.
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By winning this match, Sun became the first New Zealand woman to reach the fourth round of the singles at Wimbledon since Ruia Morrison in 1959.
Sun, 23, has now won six matches in a row at this year’s Championships, including three victories in qualifying.
Sun will now face British hope Emma Raducanu in the fourth round, which is likely to be on Centre Court.
“It was definitely tricky conditions today with the wind and waiting with the rain as well, and she's a tough opponent,” Sun said of this victory over the world No 61.
“We had a lot of rallies as well as she had great service games. So it really came down to just a few points.
“During the tiebreak, exactly as I said, it comes down to a few points. So just really nailing it down to each point and fighting each point is what got me through.”
Sun came back from being at 0-40 to hold in the second game and was also 15-40 down on her next service game.
Sun’s first break point came in the fifth game and she put in a disguised drop shot. Zhu ran in as quickly as she could but couldn’t get the ball over the net.
They swapped breaks later in the set, but when Sun served for it at 5-4, she had a problem with her serve, double-faulting on three occasions.
However, in the tiebreaker, Sun got a mini break at 4-4 and Zhu put forehands wide to the right on the next two points.
Sun was broken in the opening game of the second set, but got the break back when Zhu was serving at 2-3. She also saved three more break points at 4-4.
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In the second set tiebreak Sun gained a match point on Zhu’s serve. The Kiwi pushed Zhu out wide to create the opening, got a short ball back and then hit it into the other corner for the winner.
This win is expected to lift Sun’s world ranking from 123, to 74 which means she will make it directly into the main draw at next month’s US Open.