Lulu Sun overcomes singles disappointment for doubles win in Dubai

Lulu Sun bounced back from a loss in the singles to pick up a win with Peyton Stearns in the doubles at the WTA 1000 tournament in Dubai on Sunday.

Sun played No 9 seed Paola Badosa from Spain in the first match on Centre Court and was competitive in the 6-4 6-3 loss. The Kiwi had her serve broken twice in the opening set, while Badosa was broken once.

In the second set, Sun showed great determination to save nine of the 10 break points against her and she also had Badosa in trouble on her serve early in the second set, but the Spaniard was able to pick up the only break, to advance to the second round.

Then later in the day, Sun was back on court with the American Stearns for a 3-6 6-2 10-5 win over Leylah Fernandez from Canada and Ukraine’s Nadiia Kichenok.

Sun’s focus has been on singles and her doubles ranking is at 261, so this was an impressive win for her and Stearns against Fernandez, who is world class in both forms of the game, and Kichenok, who is ranked 38 in the world in doubles.

In the second round Sun and Stearns take on the top seeds Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova, who like Erin Routliffe and Gaby Dabrowski received a bye in the first round.