Wimbledon star Lulu Sun's magical QF run sees qualifier earn more at the tournament than her entire career so far

The 2024 Wimbledon Championships has completely changed Lulu Sun's career trajectory after she etched her name in the history books with a quarterfinal run at the tournament. Moreover, her prize money from the grass Slam has now eclipsed her entire career earnings.

Lulu Sun turned professional in 2022 and made her WTA Tour debut at the Morocco Open in May that year. She made her Grand Slam debut at the 2024 Australian Open after a successful qualifying campaign but lost to Elisabetta Cocciaretto in the first round. The next big step in Sun's career came at the Wimbledon Championships, where she made her debut via qualifying stages.

The New Zealand star made the most of her opportunity in London and stunned her higher-ranked opponents, with her latest win coming against former US Open champion Emma Raducanu, to reach her maiden Grand Slam quarterfinals. With this run, Lulu Sun is set to pocket $474,616 after qualifying for the women's singles quarterfinals.

This amount is more than 1.5 times Sun's entire career earnings (a little over $300,000) prior to the 2024 Wimbledon Championships. Now, if the 23-year-old defeats her next opponent, Donna Vekic, and reaches the Wimbledon semifinals, she will earn $904,936.

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Lulu Sun to climb 70 spots on WTA Ranking after Wimbledon QF run

Picture from Wimbledon Championships 2024 (Source: Getty)

Lulu Sun was ranked World No. 123 before the 2024 Wimbledon Championships with 616 points against her name on the WTA Rankings. She began her campaign in the qualifying stages and accounted for Miriam Bulgaru, Gabriela Knutson, and Alex Eala with just one set dropped.

Lulu Sun faced eighth-seed Qinwen Zheng in the main draw opening round and bettered the Chinese No. 1 in three sets to register the biggest win of her career and cause one of the earliest upsets at the tournament. The Kiwi survived another three-set battle against fellow qualifier Yulia Starodubtsewa in the second round before ousting Lin Zhu in the third round.

Sun faced home favorite and former US Open champion Emma Raducanu and successfully downed her in the fourth round in another three-setter epic to set up a clash against Donna Vekic in the quarterfinals. With these seven wins at SW19, Sun has picked up 465 points, taking her total points tally to at least 1081. This means she will jump from World No. 123 to at least World No. 53.

Lulu Sun has achieved several milestones with her campaign in London this year. She became only the second woman from New Zealand to reach a Grand Slam singles quarterfinal after Belinda Cordwell at the 1989 Australian Open and the second lowest-ranked woman in 15 years to reach this stage at Wimbledon after Serena Williams, who was ranked World No. 181 in 2018.

Moreover, Sun is also the first qualifier to reach Wimbledon's last eight after Kaia Kanepi in 2010 and seventh overall.