Sun shows grit in tough French Open loss to teenage talent

Lulu Sun wasn’t able to get past her tricky opponent, Victoria Mboko, in the first round of the French Open.

Drawn against the 18-year-old Canadian, who has been one of the biggest rising stars of 2025, Sun lost 6-1 7-6(4) in a match that lasted just over an hour and a half.

Although Mboko may not yet be a household name, that is changing. She went three sets against Coco Gauff at the recent Italian Open and earlier this season went on a 22-match winning streak at the ITF level.

Despite the straight-sets scoreline, Sun tested Mboko, especially in a tightly contested second set.

The New Zealand No 1 had a break point in the opening game, but went a bit too long with a backhand slice on it and she was broken herself in the following game.

It did take Sun a while to settle into the match and it wasn’t until the sixth game that she was able to get on the board. By then Mboko was already well on her way towards taking the opening set.

Sun got a confidence boosting hold in the opening game of the second set as light rain started to fall.

The sixth game of the set, which Mboko served, took almost 14 minutes to play, but Sun couldn’t convert any of the four break points she had in it and the Canadian eventually managed to get the hold.

The set ended up going to a tiebreak and the first minibreak came when Sun put a backhand into the net at 2-2. It turned out to be the only one of the tiebreak, with Mboko securing the victory on her first match point. 

Meanwhile, the men’s and women’s doubles draws have been done. Michael Venus and Nikola Mektic, who are the No 7 seeds, will play against Gregorie Jacq from France and Australia’s Romios in the opening round.

Erin Routliffe and her late notice partner Victoria Azarenka are up against the all-Italian team of Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini, who are the second seeds.

Sun has also entered the women’s doubles. She has partnered up with Yuan Yue from China and in the first round are up against Russia’s Anna Blinkova and Mayar Sherif from Egypt.