“Qualifiers are dangerous,” said Emma Raducanu before this match. Well, this one proved deadly. As Lulu Sun, making her Wimbledon debut, became the first woman in 14 years to come through qualifying and reach the quarter-final, she knocked Britain’s last contender out of the tournament in the process.
It would be hard for Raducanu to begrudge the New Zealander’s 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 victory, having made her own celebrated run to the US Open title in 2021 from a similarly humble position. It would also be hard to deny that Sun, the world 123, was, on the day, by far the better player.
