Mertens ends Gauff streak as online abuse shadows China Open
Elise Mertens reached the China Open quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-3 win, while Coco Gauff said racist and abusive messages after an earlier disputed point had left her drained.
Elise Mertens beat Coco Gauff 6-3, 6-3 on Wednesday to reach the China Open quarter-finals, ending a five-match losing streak against the American.
The result was Mertens’s first quarter-final at a WTA 1000 event in five years. Gauff said racist and abusive comments she received online after her previous match had been draining, and that she had turned off her phone.
The comments followed a disputed point in Gauff’s match against Sun Xinran. Play stopped after court-side advertising boards flickered, and the chair umpire ordered the point replayed. Gauff later said people could disagree with her without being racist.
Gauff said she played flat against Mertens. She dropped serve four times, hit eight double faults and made 34 unforced errors. The available account does not establish whether the online abuse affected her performance.
Mertens’s win advances her to the quarter-finals, where she is scheduled to face Iga Swiatek.
