Lulu Sun in action. Photo: Alfredo Falcone/LaPresse/Photosport
New Zealand tennis No.1 Lulu Sun has stunned top seed Anastasia Zakharova to make it to the semifinals of the WTA 125 tournament in Jinan, China.
The sixth seed defeated the Russian in straight sets to set up a semi-final against Indonesian third seed Janice Tjen.
Sun has now won nine of her last 10 matches.
She has also knocked out the No.1 seed in her last three tournaments.
The 24-year-old was able to break Zakharova when she was serving for the first set and never looked back after that.
On the first match point, Sun sent a big serve down the middle of the court, with Zakharova's return going long.
Sun's ranking should climb from 124 to around 114 as she edges closer to securing a place in the main draw at January's Australian Open.
If Sun wins the tournament, she may crack the top 100.
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