Before Emma Raducanu won the US Open in 2021, the idea someone could win three matches to qualify for the main draw of a grand slam and then go all the way to the title seemed outlandish, if not plain ridiculous. That lightning could strike twice, in the name of Lulu Sun, who few even inside the tennis world had heard of before this week, seems almost insane.
But it’s possible. Ranked 123, the 23-year-old shocked the No 8 seed, Qinwen Zheng, in the first round and then, on Sunday, ended Raducanu’s hopes of reaching a first Wimbledon quarter-final with a brilliant performance on Centre Court, whipping her lefty forehand into the corners to take her place in the last eight.
