Coco Gauff Speaks Out Against Racist Abuse After Controversial Replayed Point at China Open

Coco Gauff shared a post hitting back at the racist abuse she’s received online in the wake of her controversial China Open win over Chinese player Sun Xinran in Beijing.

Gauff won in two sets (7–5, 6–1) to advance to the fourth round of the WTA 1000 event, but later was targeted by racist messages on social media following a much-disputed moment during her victory.

“Hey everyone, you can dislike me or disagree about what happened without being racist. the amount of racist comments/dms I’ve received in the last few hours is insane. Lastly, I‘m not a cheater or a thief,” Gauff wrote on her X account.

The incident in question took place in the first set of Gauff’s win. Down 5–4, Gauff went back and forth with Sun in a lengthy rally before Gauff appeared to stop playing in the middle of the game and appeal to the chair umpire. Gauff held up her hand, signaling that she wanted to stop the point, but Sun continued playing and hit a winner.

They didn’t show this on the broadcast review, coco put her hands up immediately after they flickered, so maybe she didn’t even see the earlier flickers pic.twitter.com/8FBESLhw31
— ♥️ (@VenusGauff) October 5, 2026

It was a critical moment in the match. Had the winner counted for Sun, she would have been two points away from taking the first set.

But the umpire sided with Gauff, who interrupted the point because of a flickering advertising board in her view. Gauff explained the incident in a post on Threads, saying that she was merely “following the rules”:

“Hi everyone- let me explain
1. I saw it flicker in the beginning of the point but was not sure if that is what i actually saw ...
when it flickered again I raised my hands before she hit her shot because this is when I was sure I saw the light flicker and it wasn’t my mind doing tricks lol (which again doesn’t matter because anything can be challenged after the point)

“... It was an an unfortunate situation but it is out of my control, the think pieces and calling me an unfair is ridiculous when those are the rules. I did not make them, I think it’s weird i’m getting hate for following the rules. Xinran is incredible talent and player, I apologized for the situation at the end ofthe match and she completely understood.”

pic.twitter.com/ibmUEz84Qk
— Coco Gauff (@CocoGauff) October 5, 2026

The chair umpire conducted a video review and determined that the flickering from the advertising boards did, indeed, hinder Gauff and that the point should be replayed. The WTA rulebook states, per The Athletic’s James Hansen, that “a let should be called if a player is hindered by an event outside of her control (e.g., ball rolling onto the court, paper blowing onto the court, etc.) during play or her service motion.”

Gauff won the replayed point and held serve to tie it up, 5–5. She ended up taking the first set, and then made quick work of the 16-year-old Sun in the second set to clinch her ninth win in her last 10 games. Despite the controversial loss, Sun, who recently won the U.S. Open junior title, put together an impressive WTA Tour debut in which she became the youngest player to win multiple main-draw matches at the China Open since 2004.

Gauff, a two-time Grand Slam champion, will face off against Belgium’s Elise Mertens in the round of 16.

“I did not like to see [Sun] so emotional as I’ve been there and I really understand what it is like, but this is just the beginning of an incredible career,” Gauff said on Threads. “It was an honor to share the court in front of her home crowd.”

MORE FROM SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

Add us as a preferred source on Google