Photo via Yahoo Sports

“The amount of racist comments is insane,” Coco Gauff says after backlash

Cori Dionne Gauff, the American tennis star, bowed out of the China Open in Beijing after a 6-3, 6-3 loss to Elise Mertens in the fourth round on October 7, 2026. The defeat ended Gauff’s Beijing streak, which included a 2024 title and semifinal appearances in 2023 and 2025, despite entering the tournament as the No.

3 seed. Her performance was marked by 34 unforced errors and eight double faults, with Mertens capitalizing on four break points to secure the victory in just 78 minutes.

Earlier in the tournament, Gauff paused play during a match against Sun Xinran—a 16-year-old wildcard—after electronic advertising boards flickered, leading to a replay and a subsequent 7-5, 6-1 win for Gauff. She later addressed a surge of racist comments directed at her on social media, clarifying that the abuse was unrelated to the replay dispute and that she had apologized to Sun afterward.

The incident underscored a broader issue in professional tennis, as a 2025 WTA report revealed over 12,000 abusive posts online, with 3,726 classified as serious abuse across multiple platforms.

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