Coco Gauff reports online racial abuse after incident during her victory over Sun Xinran at China Open | Tennis News | Sky Sports
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Coco Gauff has had to endure online racial abuse after her latest victory at the China Open; The American star beat 16-year-old Sun Xinran in straight sets though there was an incident at a key moment when Gauff had to stop a point; Gauff explained the “unfortunate situation”
Monday 5 October 2026 22:11, UK
Coco Gauff has progressed at the China Open (Associated Press)
Coco Gauff has said she has been racially abused on social media following an incident in her win over Sun Xinran at the China Open.
The world No 4 won 7-5 6-1 against the 16-year-old from China to progress to the last 16 in Beijing.
Gauff was serving to stay in the first set at 4-5 when Sun thought she had hit a winner, but the American had already raised her hand to stop the point as a light in the side panels around the court was flickering.
Gauff took the next three points to hold for 5-5, and then dropped just one more game in the match.
The 22-year-old tried to explain the situation on X, saying: “It was an unfortunate situation but it is out of my control.
“Xinran is incredible talent and player, I apologised for the situation at the end of the match and she completely understood.”
Gauff then responded to a racist reply to her post by saying: “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.”