Lulu Sun stuns Linda Noskova in Cincinnati
Lulu Sun has pulled off a superb win in the first round of the Cincinnati Open, defeating Linda Noskova from the Czech Republic 6-4 7-6(4).
The Kiwi’s victory over the world No 29 makes it 10 wins from her last 12 matches and further establishes her status as being among the best players in the world.
Sun had dropped down to 64 in the rankings when they were last updated, but this win should move her back inside the top 60.
It was an impressive match from Sun, who played her usual aggressive way, serving eight aces and looking to take control of points at the earliest opportunity.
After a solid first set where Sun didn’t give Noskova a look at a break point, Sun had a pair of break points early in the second set, but couldn’t convert them and it was the Kiwi who ended up being broken first.
Noskova, who defeated Iga Swiatek at this year’s Australian Open, served for the set at 5-2 but ended up getting broken.
Sun went a mini break up from the first point of the tiebreak and at the change of ends was leading 4-2.
Although the next two points went the Czech’s way Sun held her nerve, hitting a crosscourt winner on match point.
This is just the second win by Sun over a top 30 player, the other being Qinwen Zheng at Wimbledon in July.
In the second round Sun will play against No 15 seed Marta Kostyuk from Ukraine. At the recent Olympic Games in Paris, Kostyuk defeated Sun 6-4 6-3, when the Kiwi unexpectedly got to play in the singles draw following a withdrawal.
Sun was due back on court in Cincinnati later on Tuesday (Wednesday NZ time) to play doubles with Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic against Guo Hanyu from China and Romania’s Monica Niculescu.
However, they have pulled out of the doubles draw. Earlier in the day, Tomljanovic had a tough and long three-set loss to Varvara Gracheva.
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