Emma Raducanu's latest injury was dreadfully unfortunate but she was well short of her best against Lulu Sun, writes MATTHEW LAMBERT... it was an unsatisfying end to a highly encouraging tournament

Emma Raducanu's latest injury was dreadfully unfortunate but she was well short of her best against Lulu Sun, writes MATTHEW LAMBERT...

it was an unsatisfying end to a highly encouraging tournament Emma Raducanu went in search of a first Wimbledon quarter-final on Sunday She withdrew from mixed doubles with Andy Murray due to wrist 'soreness' Raducanu started shaky against qualifier Lulu Sun and was eventually beaten By Matthew Lambert Published: 22:13, 7 July 2024 | Updated: 22:13, 7 July 2024 e-mail View comments A slide, a slip, a tangle of legs and a shake of the head, and Emma Raducanu ’s Wimbledon campaign was over. She fought through to the end of the match but that tumble in the fourth point of the deciding set cooked her goose. The 21-year-old went down 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 to Lulu Sun, a qualifier from New Zealand.

Sun is into the quarter-finals on her Wimbledon debut and her Devonian stepfather is the last shred of Britain left in the singles events. As decisive as Raducanu’s injury in the deciding set seemed to be, Sun was a worthy winner. Her assault was relentless and 52 winners to Raducanu’s 19 showed which of these two grabbed the match by the scruff of the neck.

Having earned £245,000 in her career, 23-year-old Sun has earned £375,000 in a week. Her leftie, volleying game suits these courts and she is three matches from being the second qualifier, after Raducanu, to win a Grand Slam. Despite Sun’s early brilliance, Raducanu did manage to chisel out the sec.