The American, a two-time Grand Slam champion, stopped play in the first set as Sun was about to put away a winner, raising her hand to complain about a flickering advertising board. After a video review the umpire ordered the point to be replayed. Gauff won the replay, held for 5-5, and then pulled away against the 16-year-old.
“You can dislike me or disagree about what happened without being racist,” Gauff wrote on X early on Tuesday, replying to a post that contained a racial slur. “The amount of racist comments/direct messages I’ve received in the last few hours is insane. Lastly, I’m not a cheater or a thief.”
She said the challenge was within the rules. Players may ask for a video review of selected judgement calls, including a claim that a distraction interfered with play. She also said she had spoken to Sun afterwards. “Xinran’s an incredible talent and player, I apologised for the situation at the end of the match and she completely understood. I didn’t like to see her so emotional as I’ve been there… It was an honour to share the court in front of her home crowd.”
The WTA monitors online abuse with an AI system covering players and officials. A WTA and World Tennis study found more than 12,000 abusive posts and messages aimed at players in 2025, up from 8,000 the year before.
Gauff is into the fourth round. The argument on court was about a board and a replay. The messages that followed were about race.