Coco Gauff says an ‘insane’ wave of racist abuse followed a disputed point at China Open

Coco Gauff said she received an “insane” amount of racist comments on social media following a controversial point in her China Open match against home player Sun Xinran.

Gauff stopped a rally after electronic advertising boards lining the court flickered during a point late in the first set of her 7-5, 6-1 third-round victory over Sun, a 16-year-old who recently won the US Open junior title.

“Hey everyone, you can dislike me or disagree about what happened without being racist,” Gauff, who is Black, said in a reply on X . “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.”

Sun appeared about to win the point when Gauff stopped playing. The chair umpire then ordered the point to be replayed.

Gauff, a two-time grand slam champion ranked No. 4, went on to take control of the match on Monday.

“Xinran is (an) incredible talent and player, I apologized for the situation at the end of the match and she completely understood,” Gauff added in another post.

Sun, who was given a wild card entry by tournament organizers and was making her WTA Tour debut, appeared distraught after the loss.

Gauff, who reached the fourth round of Wimbledon as a 15 year old in 2019, sympathized with Sun.

“I did not like to see her 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. “It was an honor to share the court in front of her home crowd.”

科科·高芙表示，在她与东道主选手孙欣然的中国公开赛比赛中出现争议一分后，她在社交媒体上收到了“疯狂的”种族主义评论。

在与孙杨的比赛中，高芙以 7-5、6-1 的比分赢得了第三轮比赛，比赛进行到第一盘末段时，球场边的电子广告牌闪烁了一下，高芙随即停止了一次回合。孙杨是一位 16 岁的小将，最近赢得了美国网球公开赛青少年组的冠军。

“大家好，你们可以不喜欢我，或者对发生的事情持有不同意见，但请不要种族歧视，”身为黑人的戈夫在X网站上回复道。“过去几个小时里，我收到的种族歧视评论/私信数量简直令人难以置信。最后，我既不是骗子也不是小偷。”

孙杨眼看就要拿下这一分时，高芙突然停止了击球。主裁随即判罚重赛。

世界排名第四的两届大满贯冠军高芙在周一的比赛中掌控了局面。

“辛然是一位才华横溢的球员，我为比赛结束后的情况向她道歉，她完全理解，”高芙在另一篇帖子中补充道。

孙杨凭借赛事组织方提供的外卡参赛资格，首次亮相WTA巡回赛，赛后她显得非常沮丧。

高芙曾在2019年以15岁的年龄打入温布尔登网球公开赛第四轮，她对孙杨的遭遇表示同情。

“看到她如此情绪激动，我很难过，因为我也经历过那种感觉，我非常理解，但这仅仅是她辉煌职业生涯的开始，”高芙说道。“能在她的家乡父老面前与她同场竞技，我感到非常荣幸。”