Coco Gauff labels wave of racist abuse 'draining' while detailing where it went wrong in Mertens defeat

It has been a torrid few days for Coco Gauff. From dealing with the abuse away from the court, she is now enduring misery on it with an underwhelming display in a 6-3, 6-3 loss to Elise Mertens in the last-16 of the China Open.

It is her earliest exit in the Beijing event after reaching the semi-final stage the three prior occasions she featured. Added to that, the 2024 champion also lost to the hands of Mertens for the first time in their sixth meeting on court, wrecking that immaculate record against a tricky customer.

From the off, it was evident that Gauff would not be at her best. However, there have been many tennis matches where the American has not been playing amazingly, but still prevailing through grit and determination, never giving up and fighting until the last point.

She was unable to fall back on any of that battling spirit in an abject loss in the fourth round of the penultimate WTA 1000 tournament of the year.

After Mertens took a 3-1 lead in the early stages, Gauff managed to confirm parity with a break to love. Three games later, Mertens was a set to the good. Another three games would pass, and Gauff was in trouble. She had spurned six games on the spin, and the Belgian would be happy enough to see the rest of the match out on serve to confirm a first WTA 1000 quarter-final of 2026 and continue her best ever run in this event.

Gauff was down in the dumps when reacting to her latest defeat. "I think I just didn’t play well," she told reporters. "I think I wasn’t moving well. There were a lot of things I didn’t do well. I thought Elise played well on the big points, made me play a big ball."

It is her worst ever showing at the China Open, a tournament that she was so deadly at in the past. With this being her first tournament since the US Open and the first competition since the Berlin Ladies Open, where she failed to reach the last-four stage, it was not what she was looking for. "I mean, obviously a bit disappointing, the result today. I had two good matches. Yeah, I mean, I always enjoy playing here."

The 22-year-old has also had some tumultuous things to deal with away from the court. A wave of racist abuse and hate was sent spiralling towards Gauff following a contentious incident in the third round. She reacted to this hate while many notable names in the tennis world stood by her side as the abhorrent hoard of social media users took its toll.

Gauff spoke on how she dealt with it. "I mean, it has been kind of draining, I’m not going to lie. I just turn off my phone and move on. I mean, there’s nothing you can do."

The two-time Grand Slam champion outlined her plans for the rest of the day as she looks to the next tournament on the horizon. "I think just getting rest," she said. "I think today I was just a bit flat. That’s the main thing. I mean, the two matches that I did play here, or three matches because I guess this one counts, the first two I felt I was a bit more engaged. I thought they were a good level. Today the level was there at some points, I just didn’t sustain it the whole match."

Gauff is the defending champion at the Wuhan Open and will need to find her best form for the big occasion if she is going to taste more WTA 1000 success. She is not set to play in either of the WTA 500 tournaments in Ningbo or Tokyo, choosing to preserve herself ready for the WTA Finals. The 2024 winner has qualified for the climax tournament of 2026 and will hope to put on a show at Indian Wells.