American women’s tennis star Coco Gauff advanced to the quarterfinals of the China Open in Beijing on Monday, September 29, but not before a tense mid-match clash with Swiss opponent Belinda Bencic over accusations of “mind games.”

The incident went down in the second set, with Bencic leading 6-4, 2-3 and serving at break point.

After Bencic dropped the previous point with a poor drop shot that Gauff, 21, chased down for a winner, the Swiss star snapped at Gauff’s player’s box, telling them to “shut up” and claiming they had celebrated before her serve.

“I treat your team with respect, you treat my team with respect,” Gauff shot back during the exchange, adding that her camp had not cheered before Bencic’s serve.

No. 2-ranked Coco Gauff was noticeably off her game in her shocking first-round loss at Wimbledon on Tuesday, July 1, to unseeded Dayana Yastremska. Gauff, 21, lost 7-6 (3), 6-1, and finished with 29 unforced errors and nine double-faults. After the match, she opened up about what went wrong, saying her French Open win last […]

“They told me she said, ‘Shut up,’” Gauff said in her post-match press conference. “I didn’t hear it, so I can only go based off of what they said. For me, I was telling her to be respectful.”

Bencic attempted to explain the heated interaction during her post-match comments.

“When the point is over, it’s no problem, I don’t care,” Bencic, 27, said. “But when I’m going to the line ready to serve, they don’t need to cheer.”

Bencic managed to hold for 3-3, then broke Gauff in the following game as the American double-faulted three times in frustration.

“Immediately after that, next game I was frustrated, threw three doubles,” Gauff admitted. “But after that I was just like, ‘OK, I don’t want to lose anymore after this point.’”

The tension escalated again when Bencic brought her complaints to the chair umpire during the next changeover, with Gauff arguing back.

“No one’s talking to you, she’s talking to me, OK?,” Bencic retorted. “ Your team is chanting! I’m too old for these mind games!”

From there, the momentum shifted. Gauff broke serve in the next game, forced a second-set tiebreak, and held on before running away with the third set to complete a 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-2 victory.

Despite the heated words, the players shook hands at the net and Gauff made a point to downplay the confrontation afterward.

Gauff explained that the fiery moment actually worked in her favor as the match progressed.

“I was able to just buckle down,” she said. “I think it was almost good for me in a way “I think I can play sometimes a little bit better when I’m annoyed, more so not with myself but with something else.”

Coco Gauff’s second-round US Open win on Thursday, August 28, over Croatian pro Donna Vekic did not come easily. Fortunately, for her, she was able to look to the stands for some inspiration. That’s where she noticed Olympic gymnast Simone Biles. “She helped me pull it out,” Gauff, 21, told the media after the match. […]

Gauff added, “She’s entitled to how she felt and I’m entitled to how I respond. I obviously have a lot of respect for Belinda. She’s a great player, coming back and playing great tennis as a mom. Yeah, I obviously wish today didn’t happen, but it is what it is.”

The American also noted that the mostly empty Beijing stadium amplified the noise from both benches.

“With no real crowd noise, it probably made the situation seem bigger than it was,” Gauff said.

The win not only sent Gauff into the quarterfinals on Thursday, October 2, where she will face Germany’s Eva Lys, but also secured her place in the season-ending WTA Finals in November.