The 16-year-old Chinese prodigy Xinran Sun, competing in her first WTA tournament, came close to taking the opening set against the world No. 4 Coco Gauff in their round-of-32 meeting at the China Open. At 4-5, 15-15, Gauff was serving to remain in the set, and if Sun had won that point, she would have been only two points from taking the set 6-4, but then everything fell apart.

• The advertisement LED panels on the side of the courts were constantly changing the sponsor names. According to Gauff’s admission on her social media, she had noticed that but was not sure of what she had seen. 
• The American continued the rally, and on the 10th shot, she hit a backhand down the line and then approached the net, hitting a short forehand cross-court volley, which Sun chased down and hit a winner. 
• As soon as she hit the volley, Gauff raised her hand in the air and then, eventually, after the point was concluded, approached the chair umpire for hindrance from the LED panels.
• Following the VAR, the chair umpire gave the verdict in Gauff’s favor and ordered a replay of the point. 
• The third seed won the replayed point and broke her opponent’s serve to seal the first set 7-5. 

Sun was visibly in tears at the changeover as she had a genuine opportunity to close the opening set, but it slipped away from her. That completely disrupted her rhythm as she just won one game in the entire second set, and it was wrapped up in under 30 minutes. 

After the match was concluded, the American apologized to the 16-year-old at the net for how the incident took shape. 

“I’m sorry about it,” Gauff said. She extended her apology in a clarification statement on her social media.

“It was an unfortunate situation but it is out of my control,” Gauff wrote. “Xinran is incredible talent and player, 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.”

Traditionally, the rule states that if there’s an accidental hindrance, which is an outside distraction caused by a ball boy moving prematurely, a ball flying from another court, or LED screens on the court malfunctioning, the play needs to be stopped right there. The player cannot wait for the whole point to be played out and then claim hindrance.

However, with the introduction of Video Review (VR), players have the right to call out such moments after the point is concluded. It’s a huge loophole players can use after losing points, and as the 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic stated about his incident, it’s the “Most Stupid Change.”

What Gauff did was completely within her rights, but was it “morally” righteous for upholding the spirit of the game? Probably not. She used her gamesmanship to not let her opponent get a lead in a crucial game, which could have cost her the first set. Same as what Alexander Zverev did in front of the Serbian in their quarterfinal clash. 

In the second game of the opening set, the German served, and the point was in play; after two shots, Zverev netted a forehand and then raised the issue of the flickering LED panel. The top seed had noticed the flicker while serving but called it out after he lost the point. After the video review, the point was replayed, and the Serbian was extremely unhappy with the decision, visibly arguing with the chair umpire. However, Djokovic won the replayed point and the match, and now finds himself in the seventh final of his career at this tournament, facing Alex de Minaur.

There was more to the match than the replayed point. The third seed made a conscious effort to come to the net, and she made that journey 22 times, which rewarded her with 17 points. Gauff even hit 26 winners to match her 21 unforced errors, with winning six of eight break points. She finished the match in under one hour and 30 minutes, winning the last nine of the 10 games. 

Sun will rise into the top 500 despite the defeat, propelled by her victories over Eva Lys and 27th seed Cristina Busca in straight sets in previous rounds, offering her home fans plenty to celebrate in her tour debut. 

Gauff now turns her attention to No. 13 seed Elise Mertens in the round of 16, a matchup she has controlled so far, leading their head-to-head 5-0.