Lulu Sun’s dream run at Wimbledon was ended in the quarter-finals by Croat Donna Vekic under the Court One roof.<\/p>\n
Sun beat Britain’s Emma Raducanu in the fourth round and was hoping to become the first qualifier to reach the women’s semi-finals since 1999 when American Alexandra Stevenson caused a sensation.<\/p>\n
However, the world number 123 was beaten 5-7 6-4 6-1 by Vekic who will face Jasmine Paolini or Emma Navarro in the last four.<\/p>\n
World number 37 Vekic, at the age of 28, is into her first Grand Slam semi-final.<\/p>\n
She set up four break points across the first set but was unable to beat Sun’s dogged defence, and then dropped serve at 5-5 as the opener tilted in her opponent’s favour.<\/p>\n
Vekic broke to go up 5-3 in the second set but briefly lost her confidence, double-faulting three times to hand Sun a break back.<\/p>\n
Buoyed by the crowd, Vekic quickly recovered and levelled the match with a sublime drop shot.<\/p>\n
She rode her momentum from there, dominating the decider.<\/p>\n
Sun, 23, is the first New Zealand woman to reach the quarter-finals at the prestigious British tournament.<\/p>\n