Lulu Sun upset top seed Anastasia Zakharova to advance to the semi-finals in Jinan, China.
At the WTA 125 tournament on Thursday, Sun beat the Russian 7-6(1) 6-0 in 89 minutes.
It was another courageous victory for the 24-year-old Kiwi, as she managed to break Zakharova while serving for the first set and never looked back afterward.
Sun cruised through the tiebreak of this set, losing just one point, and took that momentum into the second set.
Once the Kiwi led 3-0 in the second set, Zakharova sensed the end was in sight and made a series of unforced errors, while Sun continued to play her aggressive game.
On the first match point, Sun sent a big serve to the middle of the court, Zakharova’s return being too long.
The win means Sun have won nine of their last 10 matches. She has also eliminated the No. 1 seed in her last three tournaments.
Sun will face the winner of the match between Indonesia’s Janice Tjen and China’s Gao Xinyu in the semi-final.
By reaching the semi-finals in Jinan, Sun is expected to see his ranking drop from 124 to around 114 in the next update, and moves ever closer to a place in the main draw of the Australian Open in January.
If Sun wins this tournament, she could crack the top 100.
