Donna Vekic has reached her first-ever Grand Slam semi-final after victory in three sets over qualifier Lulu Sun at Wimbledon.
Croatian Vekic came from behind to win 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 in Tuesday’s first women’s singles quarter-final on No1 Court, going a stage further than her runs to the last eight of the 2019 US Open and 2023 Australian Open.
Her opponent, Sun, had knocked out Britain’s Emma Raducanu in the fourth round on Sunday to become only the seventh woman to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals as a qualifier in the Open era.
Vekic will now face Jasmine Paolini for a place in Saturday’s final on Centre Court, with the Italian having beaten American 19th seed Emma Navarro 6-2, 6-1.
Vekic came through a marathon seventh game in the opening set to hold, staying on serve at 4-3.
However, her big-hitting opponent eventually broke for 6-5 before holding to take the first set, executing a deft drop shot which was a departure from the brutal forehand winners which have defined only her second-ever appearance at a Grand Slam.
A tense second set stayed on serve until Vekic broke to 15 for 5-3. But in the next game, the 23-year-old New Zealander broke back, only for Vekic to then respond with the third break of serve in as many games and level the match at one set all.
In the deciding set, Sun’s inexperience began to show as Vekic found precise winner after precise winner, taking it 6-1. Sun may now be out, but both have enjoyed their greatest-ever Grand Slam runs at SW19 this summer.
