Former New Zealand No 1 Marina Erakovic believes Lulu Sun can rediscover the form that propelled her into last year\u2019s Wimbledon quarterfinals as she begins her US Open campaign in New York.<\/p>\n
Sun, 24, will face Colombia\u2019s Camila Osorio in the opening round on Sunday (Monday NZ time).\u00a0<\/p>\n
While Osorio is ranked No 57 in the world and has a US Open junior title to her name, she has never progressed beyond the second round of the senior women\u2019s draw.<\/p>\n
For Sun, the challenge is to turn the page on a difficult period since her breakthrough run at Wimbledon in 2024. That performance catapulted her up the rankings and onto the radar of the tennis world, but she has struggled to build on it this season and has since slipped back.<\/p>\n
Erakovic, who reached a career-high ranking of 39 and retired in 2018, said the transition from surprise package to marked contender is one of the toughest stages in a young player\u2019s career.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s tough, especially when you\u2019ve had a breakthrough result, like her at Wimbledon,\u201d Erakovic said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve gone from being an underdog and playing freely, and now you\u2019re protecting something. You\u2019re trying to protect those points, and everyone knows who you are.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone\u2019s watched you play, so you\u2019ve got a target on your back and that can be mentally challenging.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think she\u2019s probably experienced a bit of that. Now she\u2019s one of the favourites and she needs to perform every time, and that can be tough.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut now that she\u2019s got Wimbledon behind her, I think she\u2019ll play a little more freely again. She knows what to expect, she knows the girls, so I expect awesome things from her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sun has shown signs of getting back to her best recently. She had an impressive win over Daria Kasatkina, just before Wimbledon, at Eastbourne, and she came through qualifying to lose a gripping match 7-6 7-6 against Linda Noskova in Monterrey this week.<\/p>\n
Sun\u2019s all-court game has drawn admirers across the tour, and Erakovic said her variety and natural aggression remain strong foundations to build on.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s got a very nice style. She\u2019s a lefty, she moves well, she can come in, she\u2019s got variety for most surfaces,\u201d Erakovic said. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t put her as a specialist on any certain court.<\/p>\n
\u201cImprovement-wise, she can still get better across the board\u2014probably her serve, her movement a little bit, making the right choices in certain situations on court.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I really like the way she plays, and I think she\u2019s got a game that definitely has the potential to be top 20 for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Osorio, Sun\u2019s first-round opponent, is a gritty baseliner who has been in steady form this year. If Sun advances, she will likely meet Belgium\u2019s Elise Mertens, the No 30 seed, in the second round.<\/p>\n
Erakovic, however, is confident Sun\u2019s aggressive mindset will serve her well on the hard courts at Flushing Meadows.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s got the game to get back,\u201d Erakovic said. \u201cIt\u2019s just about experience and putting herself in those situations again. She\u2019s had the breakthrough, now she knows what it takes. It\u2019s only a matter of time before it comes together again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former New Zealand No 1 Marina Erakovic believes Lulu Sun can rediscover the form that propelled her into…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":90835,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":{"0":"post-90834","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}