American tennis star Coco Gauff has been knocked out of the China Open after suffering a straight-sets defeat to Belgium’s Elise Mertens.
Mertens defeated the third-seeded Gauff 6-3, 6-3 in 78 minutes to reach the quarter-finals of the WTA 1000 tournament in Beijing.
The defeat was a disappointing result for Gauff, who had previously beaten Mertens in all five of their meetings.
Gauff struggled to find her rhythm during the match and made 34 unforced errors. She also committed eight double faults as Mertens took advantage of the American’s difficult performance.
The match came after a difficult few days for Gauff. Following her previous victory over Chinese teenager Sun Xinran, Gauff said she had received a large amount of racist abuse on social media.
The 22-year-old admitted that the situation had been emotionally draining.
During Wednesday’s match, Gauff appeared to struggle physically as well. At one point in the second set, she told her team that she had no energy and felt as if she might pass out.
However, Gauff did not make the online abuse the main reason for her defeat. After the match, she said she simply did not play well and praised Mertens for performing strongly on the important points.
For Mertens, the victory was a major achievement. The Belgian had appeared at the China Open six times before but had never reached the quarter-finals.
Her reward is a quarter-final meeting with six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek.
Swiatek also secured her place in the last eight after defeating 18-year-old American Iva Jovic 6-1, 6-3.
The meeting between Mertens and Swiatek will now become one of the key quarter-final matches in Beijing.
For Gauff, the defeat brings her China Open campaign to an end. She had won the Beijing title in 2024 and reached the semi-finals in 2025.
The American will now look to recover and prepare for the remaining tournaments of the season.
