Lulu Sun has pulled off one of the most remarkable victories in decades for a New Zealand tennis player, stunning world
No 8 Zheng Qinwen 4-6 6-2 6-4 in the first round at Wimbledon.
Ranked 123 in the world, the 23-year-old from Te Anau played well beyond that level to defeat Zheng, who reached the
final of the Australian Open this year.
The match was scheduled to be played on Court 18, but because of a chain reaction caused by Aryna Sabalenka pulling out,
it got moved to the bigger Court 3, which holds 2000 spectators.
Sun didn’t show any signs of nerves of playing against a player of Zheng’s reputation, or at being on a court bigger
than she expected to play on.
She looked comfortable battling it out on the rallies against Zheng, but also took opportunities to finish off points
quickly.
In the first set, Sun was broken at 2-2, but then broke straight back. However, she failed to hold serve in the
following game, which was the key moment in the set.
At 1-1 in the second set, Sun was down 0-40 and a break here would have put Sun in big trouble.
But after serving back-to-back aces she stormed her way through the rest of the game to hold serve.
Sun went on to have a break point at 2-3 and Zheng blasted way too long with a short forehand. Then with the Chinese
player serving at 2-5, she fell behind 15-40.
The Kiwi missed her return on the first set point. But on the second Zheng overhit a forehand, taking the match into a
third set.
Zheng needed to go for a toilet break to compose herself after that, but it was Sun who looked the stronger player
throughout the third set.
Zheng served at 30-40 at 1-2, but Sun’s return was just too deep. Despite that, Sun stayed confident, winning the next
game to love.
Sun had another break point with Zheng serving at 2-3, but couldn’t control a big second serve and again Zheng ended up
holding.
However, when serving at 4-5 Zheng struggled to cope with the pressure, despite having far more experience at this level
and she double-faulted at 0-15 and then again at 0-40, to give Sun the biggest win of her career.