Agencies
London
No.19 seed Emma Navarro put on a stellar Centre Court display at Wimbledon on Sunday, dismissing her No.2-seeded compatriot Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-3 to reach the first Grand Slam quarter-final of her career.
In the all-American clash, 23-year-old Navarro took just 1 hour and 14 minutes to prevail, denying reigning US Open champion Gauff her first trip to the Wimbledon last eight.
With the win, Navarro avenged a 6-3, 6-1 loss to her 20-year-old Olympic teammate in this year’s Auckland semifinals, during Gauff’s successful title defense at that hard court event in January.
Earlier, Lulu Sun, a 23-year-old representing New Zealand, reached the quarters with a stunning, stirring 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 win over Britain’s Emma Raducanu.
The dramatic match, including an injury timeout by Raducanu, ran 2 hours and 50 minutes.
"Oh, man,” Sun said in her on-court interview, her voice quavering with emotion, "it was a great match against her. I really had to fight tooth and nail against her.
"I’m just incredibly … I don’t even have the words right now.”
The dramatic match, including an injury timeout by Raducanu, ran 2 hours and 50 minutes.
"Oh, man,” Sun said in her on-court interview, her voice quavering with emotion, "it was a great match against her. I really had to fight tooth and nail against her.
"I’m just incredibly … I don’t even have the words right now.”
This was Raducanu’s third appearance on Centre Court this fortnight – but the first ever for Sun. You never would have known it. Sun was relentless, never allowing Raducanu to get even a foothold in the match. In the end, the match always seemed on Sun’s attack-mode shots – hit or miss.
When she’s healthy, Raducanu’s calling card is unmitigated aggression. Well, it was Sun who was the aggressor, hitting 52 winners, the highest tally of any woman at the tournament so far – to only 19 for Raducanu.Sun repeatedly moved forward, ultimately winning 23 of 28 points at net. Raducanu ventured to net only seven times.
Sun broke Raducanu’s serve five times.
Most casual tennis fans are familiar with the rough outline of Raducanu’s backstory, but Sun is a remarkable story in her own right.
Sun, too, has a father from Eastern Europe and a mother from China. She moved to Switzerland at the age of five and, somehow eventually wound up winning a NCAA title at the University of Texas in 2021.
In her very first Wimbledon, the left-hander, ranked No.123, won three qualifying matches here and now four more in the main draw.
She’s only the second woman from New Zealand to reach a major quarterfinal, following Belinda Cordwell at the 1989 Australian Open.