Sun shines brightly in Beijing

"It felt like I was playing a girl who's gonna be a really great player for many years to come."

That was two-time Grand Slam champion Coco Gauff's verdict on China's 16-year-old Sun Xinran after their third-round meeting at the 2026 China Open ended 7-5, 6-1.

It wasn't said in the afterglow of a routine win.

The 22-year-old tour veteran was pushed hard. At times, she was even outplayed.

She even admitted she had "no idea how to play" Sun going into the match.

The home crowd that packed into the stands surrounding the Diamond Court at the National Tennis Center in Beijing on Monday night had barely settled before Sun gave it something to roar about.

The opening two games saw both players trade service holds that lasted six minutes apiece.

Gauff then drew first blood, breaking to love for a 2-1 lead. Sun, though, hit back immediately, breaking in turn to pull level at 2-2, before holding serve to edge ahead 3-2 — an aggressive stretch of play that sent the arena into a frenzy.

Sun, who reached the junior finals at both Wimbledon and the French Open this summer before winning the US Open junior title, earned a wildcard into the China Open to make her WTA Tour debut.

She made the most of it, too, taking down Eva Lys in the first round, after the German retired with Sun ahead 6-1, 3-0, then knocking off world No 35 Cristina Bucsa of Spain in straight sets 6-4, 7-5 on Saturday, setting up a clash with the third-seeded Gauff, the 2024 China Open champion.

"She doesn't have any major weaknesses. She can get a lot of balls back and play aggressively. She hits it really flat; kind of reminds me of Jess (Pegula) a little bit," said Gauff.

"Today, she was hitting her forehand line really well. Obviously, she has a great backhand, too. (She) killed me on a couple of backhand crosses."

The two locked into a long rally in the 10th game of the first set — Gauff's service game, with Sun leading 5-4.

Gauff lost the point, which would have handed Sun a 30-15 lead and moved her two points from a break.

However, Gauff raised her hand to stop play, pointing to a flickering light in the side panels lining the court.

The point was replayed, Gauff won it and she took the next three points to hold for 5-5. She closed out the set, then dropped just one game the rest of the way.

The incident seemed to unsettle the Chinese teenager, and cameras caught her in tears as her fortunes slipped away.

"I felt I had a pretty good chance to take the first set, but my emotions affected my game in the second set where I felt a bit like I was falling apart," Sun reflected at her post-match news conference.

"I lost my confidence and I didn't know what to do."

Gauff's hindrance call also sparked heated debate on social media, and Gauff later posted on X to explain the call, insisting it was a challenge within the rules.

"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," Gauff wrote.

Looking back on the first steps of her WTA journey against elite opponents, Sun said she noticed many differences between senior players and juniors.

"They know how to change the rhythm, and their serve is much better than mine. I will try to improve myself, and I will try to improve my energy on the court."

Addressing her loss to Gauff, Sun described the result as "expected".

"I think I'll take away a lot from the experience, and do better next time."

Gauff likewise rose up as a prodigy, entering Wimbledon qualifying with a wildcard at 15, reaching the round of 16, and making a Grand Slam singles final at Roland Garros at 18.

She added that she wasn't surprised by Sun's level, having expected the teenager to play "like top-10, top-20 tennis" — and felt Sun lived up to it.

Faced with such praise from a senior player, Sun remained humble. "I'm really happy she said that, and I think I still have a lot to learn from her. She actually achieved more than I have at an even younger age, so I think I still need to keep improving."

Sun said her biggest takeaway will be the growth in her mindset.

"In the past, I might not have started well, but now I keep telling myself that I can do it — those kinds of positive words."

With her mother being a tennis enthusiast, Sun first picked up a racket at the age of six. In 2023, she entered Shenzhen Hongshan Middle School, where she received professional tennis training in tandem with her academic studies.

Sun has lived in Serbia since 2020, training under Goran Zivotic and Goran Krivokuca at the Tennis Park Belgrade for the past five years.

Hou Wendi, Sun's tennis coach at the middle school, recalled that Sun was a hardworking, resilient athlete, who kept practicing her forehand and backhand under the scorching sun, steadily honing her fundamentals.

"Being able to always maintain a hunger for victory is the most important quality in an athlete. The fact that she has made it this far is inseparable from that quality, which is etched into her very bones," said Hou.

xingwen@chinadaily.com.cn