Gauff condemns racist abuse after China Open victory

American world number four Coco Gauff has said she faced a wave of racist abuse on social media following her victory over 16-year-old Chinese player Sun Xinran at the China Open in Beijing.

The controversy stemmed from a moment when Gauff was serving at 4-5 in the first set. Sun believed she had struck a winning shot, but Gauff raised her hand to stop play, citing a flickering light in the panels surrounding the court. Play resumed and Gauff won the next three points to level at 5-5, before going on to drop just one more game for the rest of the match, closing it out 7-5, 6-1 to reach the last 16.

Writing on X, Gauff gave a detailed account of why she had halted the point, describing it as an unfortunate situation that was out of her control. She added that Sun had understood the explanation and accepted her apology.

However, a reply to Gauff's original post contained racist language. Responding to it, Gauff wrote that people could dislike her or disagree with what happened without resorting to racism, and said the volume of racist comments and direct messages she had received in the hours since was striking. She also stated clearly that she was not a cheater or a thief.

Gauff is not the only player in women's tennis to have experienced such online abuse. A report published in July found that female tennis players received more than 12,000 abusive posts and messages on social media during 2025. The WTA and World Tennis have said that collective action is needed to make meaningful progress in addressing the problem.