How Texas ex Lulu Sun made Wimbledon quarterfinals — and why she ultimately lost to Vekic
Former Texas standout Lulu Sun's run at Wimbledon came to an end Tuesday in the women's singles quarterfinals, capping one of the tournament's top storylines.
Sun, 23, playing on her biggest professional stage yet, won the opening set before falling to Croatia's Donna Vekic 5-7, 6-4, 6-1. She clinched Texas' 2021 NCAA championship for the Longhorns as a freshman and gives UT coach Howard Joffe two promising Longhorns pros along with Peyton Stearns.
"I could tell before that they would be able to be right up there in the world," Joffe told the American-Statesman on Monday, the day after Sun's round-of-16 win over Emma Raducanu on Wimbledon's famed Centre Court. "Specific to Lulu ... she's incredibly resilient."
Sun, who turned pro in 2022, entered Wimbledon ranked No. 123 in the world with $313,832 in prize money during her short pro career. She moved up to 53rd after Sunday's win over Raducanu and won $474,000 for making it to the quarterfinals.
Along the way, she made the main draw as a qualifier and then knocked off No. 8-seeded Qinwen Zheng in the first round. In all, including qualifying rounds, Sun went 7-1 at Wimbledon with five three-set matches. But she finally hit a wall against Vekic, who was able to steal away the second set to force the decisive third.
"This has been an incredibly emotionally, exhausting Wimbledon," Joffe said before the match. "I worry that emotionally, it's going to catch up with her."
Making the most of this Wimbledon
Still, this Wimbledon was a huge step forward for the former Longhorn. After dispatching Zheng 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, Sun beat Yulia Starodubtseva 6-4, 3-6, 6-2; Zhu Lin 7-6, 7-6; and then Raducanu, a former U.S. Open champion, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2.
Sun is the first women's player from New Zealand to make the Wimbledon quarterfinals and was just the seventh qualifier to make it this far in the Open era.
Sun's mental toughness is a big key for her, said Joffe, who also said her style of play is suited for grass.
"Her style lends itself very much to quicker surfaces, and of course grass is exactly in that wheelhouse," he said.
Sunday's win stands out as Sun's highlight
Joffe, who coached Sun for one year, has of course seen her shine on big stages before. And on Sunday, playing in her first match ever at Wimbledon's famed Centre Court, she needed all of that resiliency against Raducanu, a home crowd favorite.
Sun negated the partisan crowd by winning the first set 6-2. But as that match got tighter in the second set, the crowd began cheering hard for their country's hero and having modest politeness for the former Longhorn. Raducanu won the tight second set 7-5, giving her the momentum heading into the third. But Sun rediscovered her first-set form to win in three.
"Most players, that would probably be enough of a gut punch, and then the match gets lost pretty neatly in the third set," Joffe said. "Lulu was able to rebound."