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Emma Raducanu knows all too well the potential of qualifiers having the tournament of their lives.
The 21-year-old has revived hopes of another US Open-style run by reaching the fourth round of Wimbledon without dropping a set.
But the shoe will be on the other foot in round four when Raducanu takes on Lulu Sun, a 23-year-old from New Zealand who is on a six-match winning streak.
Raducanu famously became the first qualifier to win a grand slam title in New York in 2021, and she will be very wary of Sun’s potential to cause another shock.
“Lulu I played in juniors with,” said Raducanu. “I just know she’s a very tough competitor, like everyone in this. You don’t qualify and make fourth round if you’re not extremely dangerous, beating the players she has.
“I’m expecting a really, really tough match. I think, as well, qualifiers are actually sometimes more dangerous. I’m really up for a battle, though.”
Sun, ranked 123, had never won a grand slam main draw match prior to this week but she stunned eighth seed Zheng Qinwen in the opening round.
Like Raducanu, she shares a cosmopolitan background having been born in New Zealand to parents from China and Croatia before moving first to China and then Switzerland, who she represented until earlier this year.
She also has a British-German step-father from Devon and went to college in the United States.
Raducanu has a Chinese mother and Romanian father and was born in Canada before moving to Britain as a toddler.
“I’ve only crossed paths in the locker room, but I can see why you would think that we have similarities,” said Sun.
“Obviously, we were born in different countries, our mums are Chinese. There’s a lot of, I think, half-Chinese people out there in the world and also people who live abroad.
“I think that we’re lucky to be able to experience that. I think a lot of times we feel as though we’re not included in anything, because we’re not one person of somewhere, but I think it’s kind of special and to be able to blend in everywhere.”
Raducanu can certainly take huge confidence from her form so far, with Friday’s 6-2 6-3 win over Maria Sakkari, who she beat in the semi-finals in New York, her first over a top-10 player at a grand slam.
The key difference between the pair was how they handled the big points, with Raducanu coming up with some of her best tennis at the crunch moments.
“I think naturally that’s always been one of my big strengths,” she said. “I step up and I thrive and I love the challenge and trying to overcome it.
“I think that’s something I did since a young age. In the last couple years, I don’t think I was playing those big points in the same way. I wasn’t as aggressive. I was more passive.
“I’m playing such a top opponent like Maria, she’s not going to give me the match or give me an error. I know I have to go for it. Anyone at this level of the tournament is the same. You just have to take the opportunities while you have them.”
Raducanu is also relishing being back as the centre of attention at a grand slam, saying: “I love playing on the big courts. I thrive on such occasions, on big stages.
“It’s something that I play tennis for. I just love the feeling of it, competing, especially here in front of a home crowd. It is really amazing. I have a packed Centre Court who are all rooting for me to win. I just feel happy that that many people are behind me.”
Sakkari did make too many errors but Raducanu also served superbly, saving all seven break points she faced. Across three matches, she has dropped serve only once.
“I’ve been working on it quite a bit throughout the year,” she said of her serve. “I think there’s still a lot of room for improvement on it. It’s just such a big element of the game. You start the point 50 per cent of the time with it.
“You watch any of the top players or any of the guys play, they don’t lose their serve very often. It just signals how important it is and how I need to keep working on it.”
