Sun battles past top seed Eala to reach Jingshan final

Lulu Sun fought back from losing the first set to defeat top seed Alexandra Eala from the Philippines 3-6 6-4 6-2 in the semifinals of the WTA 125 tournament in Jingshan, China.

It was a superb win for Sun against the world No 58, who will go on to play against China’s Ma Ye-Xin in Sunday’s final.

Eala, who reached the final at Eastbourne a few months ago,  is regarded as one of the most promising young players in the world and for the first half of this match, she did look the player most likely to win.

Both players swapped breaks early in the first set and the third seeded Sun dropped her serve again in the sixth game, double faulting on break point.

Sun was broken again at the beginning of the second set. This time Eala was able to consolidate it. But Sun leveled the set in the fourth game when Eala put a backhand slice into the net on break point.

That was part of a four-game winning streak by Sun. The next two went to Eala, but in the following game Sun saved break points to avoid giving the Filipino the opportunity to serve for the match.

In fact, Sun broke again in the next game, ripping a forehand winner into the corner on set point.

The Kiwi went out to a 4-0 lead in the deciding set, playing her best tennis of her week. 

Even though Eala tried to mount a comeback, Sun stayed strong and on her second match point, Eala was pushed wide and wasn’t able to control a crosscourt backhand.

This was the third time this year Sun has come back from losing the first set to win a match.