The Diamond Court buzzed with excitement when the 16-year-old Chinese prodigy Xinran Sun locked horns with the 2024 China Open Champion Coco Gauff. Sun had already put together a memorable run in her debut WTA tournament, defeating Eva Lys and 27th seed Cristina Busca in straight sets in the previous rounds. She started off well against the world No. 4 and nearly broke Gauff’s serve to clinch the opener 6-4, but then everything fell apart. 

Gauff was serving to stay in the set at 4-5, 15-15. She hit a backhand down the line and then approached the net to play a short cross-court volley, which Sun ran down and hit a cross-court forehand winner. The American immediately raised her hands as the digital advertising boards beside the court flickered, changing from the Guojiao 1573 display to a Fila logo during the rally. 

Following a video review, the chair umpire granted her a hindrance call and ordered a replay point, which took away the opportunity from Sun to be two points away from closing the opening set. Gauff held her serve to level 5-5, and then broke her opponent’s serve to seal the first set 7-5. Sun was visibly in tears at the changeover and managed just one more game in the second set. The American went to the net after the match and apologized to the teenager for the situation. 

A similar incident had taken place on the men’s side of the China Open during the quarterfinal between Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev. In the second game of the opening set, the German served, and the point was in play; after two shots, Zverev netted a forehand and then raised the issue of the flickering LED panel. 

The top seed had noticed the flicker while serving but called it out after he lost the point. After the video review, the point was replayed, and the Serbian was extremely unhappy with the decision, visibly arguing with the chair umpire. However, Djokovic won the replayed point and the match, and now finds himself in the seventh final of his career at this tournament, facing Alex de Minaur.

Rules debate that turned ugly

Sun’s tears and the timing of the call left some fans questioning Gauff’s actions, and the criticism quickly spilled into abuse. The third seed was inundated with racist messages and comments in the hours following the match, and she replied directly to one of them. 

“You can dislike me or disagree about what happened without being racist,” she wrote. “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.” 

The post she replied to has since been taken down, but she gave a whole rundown on the situation and shared her perspective. 

“It was an unfortunate situation but it is out of my control,” Gauff posted a picture of an Instagram comment on X. “Xinran is incredible talent and player, I apologized for the situation at the end of the match and she completely understood. 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.”

On the point, the American stated that she had noticed the flicker at the start of the rally but was not sure of what she had seen in the first place. By the time it happened again, she was sure enough to raise her hands before Sun struck her shot. She also pointed out that players are told before matches that they may play on and challenge a call once the point is over, and that Sun would have been equally entitled to ask for a replay had the situation been reversed. 

There was more to the match than the replayed point. The third seed made a conscious effort to come to the net, and she made that journey 22 times, which rewarded her with 17 points. Gauff even hit 26 winners to match her 21 unforced errors, with winning six of eight break points. She finished the match in under one hour and 30 minutes, winning the last nine of the 10 games. Despite the defeat, Sun will rise into the top 450 on the back of her run and gave plenty to her home fans to cheer for in the debut tournament itself. 

Gauff now turns her attention to No. 13 seed Elise Mertens in the round of 16, a matchup she has controlled so far, leading their head-to-head 5-0.