Mertens Beats Gauff for the First Time

Elise Mertens of Belgium beat Coco Gauff of the United States 6⁠–⁠3, 6⁠–⁠3 on Wednesday, 7 October, in the fourth round of the China Open in Beijing to reach the quarter-finals. It was her first win over Gauff in six meetings, and it took her 78 minutes (WTA; AFP via Philstar).

The women's China Open is a WTA 1000 event, one of the biggest women's tennis tournaments outside the four Grand Slams, and it is played alongside the men's tournament in the same city. Mertens, 30, is the 13th seed, the tournament's ranking of its top players, and is 19th in the world. Gauff, 22, is the third seed, ranked fourth in the world, and was the highest-ranked player left in the women's draw. She won the Beijing title in 2024 and reached the semi-finals last year (WTA; AFP via Philstar).

Mertens had come close to beating Gauff before. In their first meeting, at Eastbourne in 2021, she led the then 17-year-old 6⁠–⁠0, 3⁠–⁠1 and still lost 0⁠–⁠6, 7⁠–⁠6(4), 7⁠–⁠5. Eight months ago, in the third round in Dubai, she had three match points, points that would have won her the match, and lost again, 2⁠–⁠6, 7⁠–⁠6(9), 6⁠–⁠3 (WTA).

This time she did not let go. Gauff made 34 unforced errors, mistakes not forced by her opponent, and eight of them were double faults, when a player misses both serves and gives away the point. Four of those double faults came in the last game of the first set, when Gauff lost her serve and the set (WTA). Trailing 4⁠–⁠1 in the second set, Gauff told her team at the side of the court that she had "no energy" and felt as though she would pass out (WTA). A group of supporters in a largely empty stadium tried to lift her, but Mertens did not falter (AFP via Philstar).

Mertens won 10 of her last 11 points on serve and finished the match on her second match point with an ace, a serve her opponent could not touch. It was only her second ace of the match (WTA; AFP via Philstar). It was also her first straightforward scoreline of the tournament. In the second round she led Katie Volynets 6⁠–⁠0, 3⁠–⁠0 but needed 2 hours and 54 minutes to win 6⁠–⁠0, 4⁠–⁠6, 7⁠–⁠5, and in the third round she came from 2⁠–⁠0 down in the deciding set to beat Jelena Ostapenko 6⁠–⁠2, 3⁠–⁠6, 6⁠–⁠4 (WTA).

"She's an incredible player of course, I knew it was going to be a very tough match," Mertens said (AFP via Philstar). She dedicated the win to her coach, who is also her boyfriend. "My coach/boyfriend [Christopher Heyman], it's his birthday tomorrow," she said in her on-court interview. "So for me, this win is dedicated to him" (WTA).

The match came a day after Gauff said she had received a large amount of racist abuse online. In her previous match, a 7⁠–⁠5, 6⁠–⁠1 win over Chinese teenager Sun Xinran, Gauff asked for a video review because the lights on the stadium's advertising boards had flickered. Some of the crowd booed, and the umpire had the point replayed (AFP via Philstar). Early on Tuesday, Gauff, who is Black, wrote on X: "Hey everyone, you can dislike me or disagree about what happened without being racist. The amount of racist comments and messages I've received in the last few hours is insane" (AFP via Philstar).

The win also goes into the record books. It is the 10th win of her career over a player in the world's top five, and her second this year after she beat Elena Rybakina in the third round at Wimbledon. It is her first quarter-final in Beijing in seven visits, and her second quarter-final this year at WTA 1000 level or above, after Wimbledon (WTA).

Next for Mertens is Iga Swiatek of Poland, the eighth seed and the 2023 Beijing champion. Swiatek beat American teenager Iva Jovic 6⁠–⁠1, 6⁠–⁠3 in one hour and 35 minutes (WTA; AFP via Philstar). "I had it under control from the beginning," Swiatek said. "I feel like I'm improving every day" (AFP via Philstar). Mertens has lost both of her previous matches against Swiatek, and a win would put her in her first semi-final at WTA 1000 level or above since Dubai in 2021 (WTA).

What a reader can take from Wednesday in Beijing is a long wait ending. Mertens had lost five times to Gauff, twice after being close to victory, and this time she won in straight sets, meaning without dropping a set, to reach the quarter-finals.