Claire Liu reached the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time on Wednesday, beating Zeynep Sonmez 7-5, 6-3 at Wimbledon. The result gives the 26-year-old her best Grand Slam run after 29 previous appearances as a pro.
Wimbledon Breakthrough
Liu handled the first two sets cleanly enough to close out the match in straight sets. She entered Wimbledon with 29 Grand Slams behind her, including 20 main draws, but had never moved past the second round before this week.
That history made the win more than a routine advance. She had gone out in the first round 13 times and had fallen in qualifying nine times, while her previous ceiling in the main draw was the second round, reached seven times.
Claire Liu and Coco Gauff
The next step is a meeting with World No. 7 Coco Gauff in the third round. Liu will arrive there with a result that finally matches the promise of her junior career, which included the Wimbledon girls' championship in 2017 at the All England Club in London.
The turnaround also comes after a difficult stretch in 2025. Liu wrote in a Substack post titled "The Year of Realizing Stuff" about the year’s strain, saying she was "internally destroyed" after parting ways with the coach she had worked with since 2017 and describing the split as "circumstances that came as a shock to me and left me with no choice."
London Hotel Check-Out
Her Wednesday did not start like a player expecting to stay deep into the tournament. Liu checked out of her London hotel that morning after extensions to her stay, then had to scramble again after beating Sonmez.
"I checked out this morning, and I'm looking or hotels again," she said after the win. "I think I'm going to check back into the same hotel, but we'll see. It's a day-by-day thing for sure."
That short stay-and-rebook routine fits a run that has finally stretched past the second round. Liu also said, "Usually I'm more prepared, I like to plan things out, but I guess it's been going well so far," and added, "My boyfriend was like 'You're still in the tournament. Just because you are packing doesn't mean you are leaving.'"
Since the 2025 US Open, Liu has worked with Clemens Wagner, and she said of that stretch, "It's been a good chunk of time, and it's been great," as she moved one round deeper than ever before at a Grand Slam.
