Kiwi tennis ace Lulu Sun has capped a breakout 2024 campaign, winning WTA Newcomer of the Year honours.
Sun, 23, was born in Te Anau, but moved to Shanghai and eventually grew up in Geneva, before taking up a tennis scholarship at the University of Texas at Austin.
She began this year ranked outside the top 200 in the world and her transformation began when she entered Auckland's ASB Classic, where she lost in the second round, after progressing through qualifying.
Sun then qualified for the Australian Open — her first appearance in a Grand Slam main draw — before switching her national allegiance from Switzerland to New Zealand.
Her performances began to improve and her ranking soared to No.39 in September, highlighted by a quarterfinal run at Wimbledon that included victory over Chinese world No.8 Zheng Qinwen.
Sun and doubles specialist Erin Routliffe teamed up for New Zealand at the Paris Olympics, but were ousted by Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini — named WTA Doubles Team of the Year.
In August, she reached her first WTA Tour final, losing to 35th-ranked Czech Linda Noskova at Monterrey, Mexico.
World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus was voted Player of the Year, American Emma Navarro — who lost to eventual winner Coco Gauff in the ASB Classic semis — was named Most Improved Player, while Spaniard Paula Badosa was Comeback Player of the Year.
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