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AUSTIN (KXAN) — There's a Texas Longhorns connection with perhaps the biggest story out of Wimbledon so far.
Lulu Sun, currently ranked No. 123 in the world, had to win three qualifying matches to get into the women's field, and now she's the first-ever Longhorn woman to advance to the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament. She beat Great Britain's Emma Raducanu on Centre Court in three sets Sunday (6-2, 5-7, 6-2) to advance and she'll face Croatia's Donna Vekic, ranked No. 37, Tuesday.
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"I had to fight tooth and nail against her," Sun said through tears after the match. "She's obviously going to run to every ball and fight until the end, so I'm just incredibly — I don't even have the words right now."
The crowd was understandably pro-Raducanu since she's British, but fans roared for Sun during her post-match interview. It's Sun's first-ever appearance at the All England Club and she's already earned more money with her run at Wimbledon than her entire professional career. Sun came into the tournament with just over $313,000 in career earnings and will leave with at least $480,000 from Wimbledon alone. If she wins Tuesday, she'll bank $750,000.
Sun played one year of collegiate tennis for the Longhorns in 2020-21, helping Texas win the NCAA championship over Pepperdine. Sun's three-set win over the Waves' Taisiya Pachkaleva clinched the title, breaking a 3-3 tie in the dual-scoring format. Her singles record was 21-2 playing as the No. 3 seed for most of the season. She was 15-1 at the No. 3 and 6-1 as the team's No. 2.
She was named an ITA All-American in doubles with Kylie Collins that season with a 26-5 record, going 22-4 as the Texas No. 1 doubles team. The duo made it to the NCAA championship match before falling to North Carolina's Makenna Jones/Elizabeth Scotty in a super tiebreaker.
Sun, competing under New Zealand's flag, was the No. 23 seed in the qualifying tournament. She was one of 16 players to advance to the official tournament field from the qualifying rounds.