Gauff Gets a Glimpse of the Future After Downing Sun

The future of women’s tennis is bright after a battle Monday night on Diamond Court.  

Coco Gauff fought off China’s 16-year-old Sun Xinran 7-5, 6-1 to advance to her fourth consecutive quarterfinal at the China Open. 

Even with a rowdy crowd, Gauff, the two-time Grand Slam winner and 2024 China Open champion, found a way to best the home hopeful. 

“Felt like I'm playing a girl who is going to be a really great player for many years to come,” Gauff said.

“Honestly I think that took the pressure off of me because knowing how good of a player she's going to be, it's like if I lose this match – obviously it's going to be a big story – but in the grand scheme of things, even next year she's going to be a great player. Five years from now I'm going to look back and not feel so bad that I lost.

“Yeah, one of those players that you know is going to do well on tour. It's just a matter of time.”

Gauff knows all too well what it’s like to emerge onto the pro tennis stage at a young age.

At age 15, she defeated her idol Venus Williams in Wimbledon and won her first grand slam at age 19 at the U.S. Open. Now, Gauff is considered a veteran despite being 22 years old. 

After the match, Gauff acknowledged how she anticipates they will be meeting in many more matches in the future. 

“She doesn't have any major weaknesses. She can get a lot of balls back and play aggressive. She hits it real flat. Kind of reminds me of Jess (Pegula) a little bit.

"Today she was hitting her forehand line really well. Obviously she has a great backhand, too. Killed me on a couple backhand crosses.”

The young phenom looked strong and aggressive out the gate, able to take the first game of the match and breaking the American to make it 2-2. 

As the two players exchanged games in the first set, the crowd grew even louder for Sun as the set evened out at 5-5, with the game officials telling fans to quiet down multiple times. 

However, Gauff didn’t let the noise get to her and found her footing after breaking Sun to go up 6-5.

Gauff opened up the second set 3-0 to take control of the match. 

“First of all, her rhythm is much faster than other players,” Sun said after the match. “She's able to mix it up. Her serve, she's more powerful, more aggressive. Much better than me.

“There's so many things I can learn from her.”

As the No. 3 seed, Gauff is the highest seed remaining after Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina were both upset in the second round. 

Gauff will face No. 13 seed Elise Mertens. The Belgian defeated Jelena Ostapenko 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 on Monday to advance to the Round of 16 for the first time in seven China Open appearances.

Mertens blasted out of the gates, winning the first game on serve at love and breaking Ostapenko three times in the first set. She also broke Ostapenko three times — including the final game — in the decisive set. 

By Maggie Bane and Pranav Sriraman