Defending Champ Gauff Survives Fernandez Upset Bid in Beijing

Defending champion Coco Gauff dug deep to keep her Beijing title defense alive on Sunday night. The American earned her third win in three tries against the Canadian in a tense affair that featured 15 breaks of serve overall. 

Gauff, who defeated Karolina Muchova in the 2024 Beijing final, improves to 12-1 lifetime in the Chinese Capital. The American, who won her second major title at Roland-Garros this year, improves to 40-13 on the season, while Fernandez, ranked 25, drops to 22-21.

“It was very physical, we were going back and forth,” Gauff told the crowd. “In the third set I was playing pretty well, but I needed to serve a little better but I did what I needed to do to win today.” 

Gauff will face Belinda Bencic or Priscilla Hon in the round of 16 in Beijing.

Gauff appeared to be headed to an uncomplicated victory,  leading the former US Open finalist by a set and a break, then 5-2 with a match point in the decider, but ultimately needed 2 hours and 45 minutes to gut out a 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 third-round victory

The American finished with 23 winners and 43 unforced errors, and was broken seven times. 

Fernandez hit 25 winners and 53 unforced and was broken eight times. There were 27 total break point opportunities in the match, with Gauff earning 17.

After a start to the third set which saw five consecutive service breaks, Gauff appeared to be pulling away. But she was reeled back into the fray by Fernandez, who saved a match point (Gauff missed a forehand long) and fought all the way back to five-all before the American captured the final two games of the match.

Gauff converted her fourth break point with Fernandez serving at 5-all and held serve without difficulty to clinch the win in 

In other action on Beijing, Eva Lys of Germany notched a dramatic win over Elena Rybakina, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, while McCartney Kessler advanced when Barbora Krejcikova was forced to retire three games into the final set, 1-6, 7-5, 3-0 RET.