Lulu Sun to play singles at Olympics

Lulu Sun has been given a spot in the singles draw at the Olympics, following the withdrawal of Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva.

The Wimbledon quarterfinalist will play against No 12 seed Maria Kostyuk from Ukraine in the opening round. The match was scheduled for Saturday, but bad weather in Paris meant it has been postponed to Sunday.

Sun and Erin Routliffe’s first-round match in the doubles against Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini has also been delayed a day due to the persistent rain.

Sun only expected to play doubles at the Olympics, as her rise up the rankings to No 55 in the world occurred after the ITF’s entry deadline, which was following the French Open.

However, she has made it into the draw from the alternate list following Putintseva’s exit and the rain delay could help Sun to prepare for her unexpected match against Kostyuk.

“Putintseva arrived in Paris and began active preparations for the Games,” the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation said in a statement on Saturday. 

“But, unfortunately, she felt a sharp pain in her knee during a warm-up before the first match versus Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk. After a medical examination, a decision was taken to withdraw from the match.”

Sun has never played against Kostyuk before, but she might be able to get some insight into how she’s playing from Routliffe as the Kiwi and Gaby Dabrowski defeated Kostyuk and Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-3 6-1 in the third round at Wimbledon earlier this month.