Sun becomes first Kiwi woman to reach quarters

Lulu Sun is ecstatic after her win over Emma Raducanu in London on Sunday. Pic/AFP

Lulu Sun became the first New Zealand woman to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals on Sunday and hailed the inspiration she found by turning to YouTube to learn from Centre Court legends Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova.

Qualifier Sun, ranked 123 in the world, made the last-eight by triumphing 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 over 2021 US Open winner Emma Raducanu. The 23-year-old left-hander hit 52 winners against Raducanu, who had been hoping to become the first British women's champion at Wimbledon in 47 years. "Just watching the professionals growing up," said Sun when asked how she honed her impressive grass-court tactics.

"For example, Roger Federer, of course, coming towards the net, and I also watched Steffi Graf versus Martina Navratilova on YouTube. It was just so amazing to watch them. Of course I couldn't watch them live but I was taking it all on from the pros, and trying to do that for my game," she added.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever