Lulu Sun reaches Guangzhou WTA decider
- Dave Worsley
- Oct 26
- 2 min read
Lulu Sun is into her second WTA career final after a 6-0 7-6(3) victory over American Claire Liu in Guangzhou, China.
Her previous Tour-level final came in Monterrey, Mexico, last year, where she lost to Linda Noskova.
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Sun, a qualifier beat Liu who also came through qualifying round easily in the first set dominating her opponent..
The New Zealand then broke early to lead 2-0. But the match shifted when Liu finally got on the board and began to settle into her game. From that point, the remainder of the set was tightly contested, with Liu eventually breaking back.
The set went to a tiebreak, and Sun immediately gained the upper hand with a mini-break on the first point.
She then won the next three points to lead 4-0 before Liu finally got on the scoreboard. At the change of ends, Sun was ahead 5-1.
At 5-2, Liu missed a backhand slice to give Sun multiple match points. The Kiwi needed only two of them, sealing victory by driving a deep shot to Liu’s backhand that the American couldn’t retrieve.
It was a tale of two very different sets in a match lasting one hour and 53 minutes, and Sun admitted afterwards that her quick start took her by surprise.
“Honestly, I didn’t expect to come out like that,” said Sun
“Claire’s a really good player, so I knew she wasn’t going to give up after the first set, and I really had to dig deep once she came back. At the end of the day, it was all about fighting, and I did my best on that part.”
In final final, Sun will face second seed Ann Li ranked 44th from the United States
The 24-year-old Kiwi is expected to see her ranking improved to around No 87 in the world rankings when they’re next updated, a position that guarantees her a place in the main draw of January’s Australian Open.
