Lulu Sun at the ASB Classic. Photo: Alan Lee / www.photosport.nz
New Zealand tennis player Lulu Sun is hoping to go deep at Australian Open after a rough end to 2024 and a poor start to 2025.
Sun hasn't won a match since she pulled out of the US Open in August last year.
She lost in the first round of the recent women's ASB Classic and at the Hobart WTA tournament in Tasmania.
Lulu Sun returns the ball to Croatia's Donna Vekic during their women's singles quarter-finals tennis match at Wimbledon. Photo: AFP
Sun, ranked 43rd in the world, faces Danka Kovinic from Montenegro in her opening match in Melbourne and she said she'll have to find her feet and her rhythm quickly if she's to progress at the grand slam, where she lost in the first round in 2024 as a Swiss player.
"The end of the year was quite tough due to injuries. This year is really a restart. I'll be playing in the WTA tournaments which means the schedule you know what you're going to get so you can plan it easier. The goal is really to improve and get consistent," Sun said.
"In every tournament you want to do well and go far. I really want to get the consistency and get the rhythm and push the play and if I do that I can go far."
The 23-year-old Sun doesn't know a lot about Kovinic, who is currently ranked outside of the top 1000 due to injuries, but has been as high as 46.
"She hasn't really played a lot of tennis recently either. I haven't really seen her play that much. So I'll look into that."
The match is scheduled for Tuesday.
New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe (left) and partner Gaby Dabrowski celebrate after victory in the WTA Finals. Photo: WTA
In doubles, New Zealand's Michael Venus and his Croatian partner Nikola Mektic are looking to continue their strong start to 2025, after the pain won the men's doubles title at the ASB Classic by walkover.
They will be one of the top seeded combinations at the Australian Open while the New Zealand and Canadian combination of Erin Routliffe and Gaby Dabrowski have arrived in Melbourne and intend to play.
The 2023 US Open women's doubles champion Routliffe has been suffering with a rib injury which kept her out of the ASB Classic, but she's hopeful she can take the court in Melbourne.
Alongside Dabrowski, she reached last year's final at Wimbledon losing to Kateřina Siniaková and Taylor Townsend.
As a result, Routliffe became the world No. 1 player in doubles after the tournament and seeded second at the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia, Dabrowski and Routliffe went unbeaten to top their group and win their semi-final and final.
It was the pair's first WTA Tour Finals title with Routliffe becoming the first New Zealander to win a WTA Finals title.
She and Dabrowski and Venus and Mektic start their Australian Open campaigns on Tuesday afternoon.
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