Emma Raducanu fought back from a set down to set up a thrilling last-16 decider on Centre Court against qualifier Lulu Sun – before suffering a worrying fall that triggered a medical time-out.
Raducanu ignited the match by breaking at 6-5 in the second set to set up a decider, but in the opening game of the final set on her serve, Raducanu slipped on the surface and appeared to damage her right ankle.
She sat up on the court and immediately called for the physio in worrying scenes, having just swung the momentum in the match in her favour after New Zealand qualifier Lulu Sun dominated in a 6-2 opening set.
Returning out of the medical time-out, Raducanu was stretched and Sun won three straight points to land a decisive break.
Raducanu was all smiles as she emerged on Centre Court, just 24 hours after her withdrawal from mixed doubles ended Andy Murray‘s Wimbledon career. The Brit pulled out to prioritise her singles run after she felt ‘soreness’ in her right wrist, causing a row online.
On Saturday she practised with strapping on her wrist but when she appeared to take on Sun on Sunday there was no sign of the strapping from a day prior.
Emma Raducanu was in singles action just 24 hours after withdrawing from mixed doubles
There was no strapping on either wrist as she took to Centre Court to face qualifier Lulu Sun
Sun is a brilliant story at these championships and she made a roaring start to go 3-0 up
Raducanu made a tentative start and was swiftly punished, being broken in her opening two service games to fall in a 3-0 hole.
Roared on by the crowd, the 21-year-old finally looked to settle in the fourth game, forcing a break point opportunity with a brilliant cross-court backhand winner.
A double fault from Sun, who is playing in the biggest match of her career to date, gave Raducanu one of her breaks of serve back.
But Sun has proven to be a fierce competitor without much fanfare and after breaking Raducanu again to go up 5-2 she held her nerve impressively to close it out.
It was imperative Raducanu made a strong start to the second set and at 30-30 she let out a huge roar when she took control of the rally – and then the point – to eventually hold.
Much has been made of Sun’s composure and she showed it by the bucketload here in a match where she was – perhaps unwisely – thoroughly unfavoured.
Sun was left to rue a gifted break point opportunity in the third game of the second set, sending a routine volley deep beyond the baseline when Raducanu’s hopeful return looked to be going out.
Up 2-1 and with a break point opportunity, Raducanu turned to the Centre Court crowd and nodded her head as the crowd roared her on. Her netted return that followed forced deuce before a backhand cross-court drop-shot gave Sun a timely advantage.
This was a vocal display from Raducanu, eager to amp herself up at crucial moments and saving game point up 2-1 with Sun miscalculating a forehand down the line was one of those moments.
Having held all of her service games to be up 6-5, a forehand winner on deuce, followed up by an unforced error on Sun’s backhand levelled the match up, much to the delight of a raucous home crowd.
The match arrived on the back of plenty of noise on social media overnight regarding the abandonment of the Murray mixed doubles.
Raducanu was incredibly frustrated after losing the opening set of the match to Sun 6-2
Sun showed great defence against the Brit and did well to quieten the partisan home crowd
Raducanu cited right wrist soreness as the reason behind her withdrawal and Judy Murray unhelpfully labelled the young Brit’s decision to not play in the mixed doubles as ‘astonishing’.
But, on Sunday morning, Judy Murray appeared to row back on her criticism of Raducanu and her team and instead directed her ire at Wimbledon’s organisers.
Raducanu and Andy Murray were due to take to No 1 Court as the fourth match of the day, meaning an 11pm finish was not out of the question.
That would have been terrible preparation for Raducanu ahead of her fourth round singles match against Lulu Sun, and Judy took to X, formerly Twitter, to fume at the scheduling.
‘Not sure anyone understands sarcasm these days,’ she said, in relation to her prior post about Raducanu’s ‘astonishing’ withdrawal.
The reality of the situation is that with rain causing havoc in the opening week of the tournament, the All England Club found themselves needing to prioritise the scheduling of singles matches.
Raducanu looked nervous when the match started but soon settled into her usual rhythm
Despite the criticism of her mixed doubles withdrawal, she was in good spirits on Sunday
Raducanu (right) felt some right wrist soreness and her withdrawal cost Andy Murray (left) a final farewell at Wimbledon, having lost earlier in the week in men’s doubles with his brother
On Sunday morning, Judy Murray called it ‘sarcasm’ before pointing finger at the scheduling
There is pressure to play singles matches before doubles, and one of Murray-Raducanu’s scheduled opponents, Marcelo Arevalo, was finishing his men’s doubles match on Saturday morning, so they could hardly ask him to go back-to-back.
Another factor that complicated this particular mixed doubles match was that given the huge interest in it organisers were eager to put it on a show court, limiting the available slots available.
More to follow.
