Gauff Holds Off 16-Year-Old Sun Amid Replay Drama in Beijing

Coco Gauff survived a scare from tennis's next generation to reach the Beijing round of 16 on Monday, beating 16-year-old Chinese wildcard Sun Xinran 7-5, 6-1 in one hour and 29 minutes. The American dropped the early exchanges but roared home, winning nine of the final ten games.

The match turned on a bizarre moment. Serving to stay in the first set at 4-5, 15-15, Gauff halted a rally to complain that rotating court advertisements were distracting her. The umpire ordered the point replayed, and Gauff held to level at 5-5. Sun, the reigning US Open girls' singles champion and the world's top-ranked junior, was visibly in tears at the changeover but had already shown her quality by fighting back from an early break to lead 5-4.

From there, Gauff's experience told. She reached the round of 16 in Beijing for the fourth consecutive year and improved to 24 wins in 28 career WTA-level matches against younger opponents. She next faces 13th seed Elise Mertens. Gauff was generous in praise of her teenage conqueror-in-waiting: "I think she's a little bit more mature than I was at 16."