Coco Gauff reports racist abuse after China Open win over Sun Xinran

Coco Gauff has condemned racist abuse she says she received on social media after her China Open victory over Sun Xinran. According to BBC Sport, the world number four addressed the messages after explaining an interruption during her 7-5 6-1 win, which secured a place in the last 16 in Beijing.

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The incident occurred with Gauff serving at 4-5 in the opening set. Sun, the 16-year-old Chinese player, believed she had struck a winner, but Gauff raised a hand to stop play because a light was flickering in panels beside the court. Gauff then won three consecutive points to hold serve.

The American went on to take the first set and conceded only one game in the second. In a post on X, she explained why she had interrupted the point, describing the circumstances as beyond her control. She said Sun understood what had happened and accepted her apology.

Gauff subsequently replied to a racist response to that explanation. She said disagreement with her conduct did not justify racism, reported receiving numerous abusive comments and direct messages, and rejected accusations that she had cheated.

Her account follows wider evidence of online abuse in women's tennis. In separate reporting published on 16 July, BBC Sport detailed findings that players received more than 12,000 abusive posts and messages during 2025. The figures came from Signify Group's threat matrix service, which combines artificial intelligence with human analysis to examine material on X, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Facebook. The volume was similar to that recorded in 2024, according to the report.

That research also documented responses to the abuse: 66% of serious abuse was removed, while 35 accounts associated with 12 individuals were referred to law enforcement. The WTA player board said the effects on players could be significant even when relatively few accounts were responsible. The WTA and World Tennis called for coordinated efforts involving social media companies, police, sports governing bodies and the gambling industry to make further progress in protecting players.