The Beijing draw is out and defending champion Coco Gauff has learned her possible path to repeating as winner at the Chinese WTA 1000 tournament.
After a first-round bye, Gauff will take on the winner of the match between Lucia Bronzetti and Kamilla Rakhimova, before likely facing reigning Washington champion Leylah Fernandez in the third round. In the round-of-16, the No. 2 seed is projected to face 15th-seeded Belinda Bencic, and then could easily meet Elena Rybakina in what would have been a Beijing quarterfinal showdown.
The projected China Open semifinal sees Gauff taking on this year's Wimbledon and US Open runner-up Amanda Anisimova, while the projected final sees the American tennis star taking on No. 1 seed Iga Swiatek.
So far in her career, Gauff has had great success in Beijing, having reached the semifinal in 2023 before capturing the main glory in the Chinese capital last year.
Gauff became the first American woman since Serena Williams to win Beijing
By ousting Karolina Muchova 6-1 6-3 in the 2024 China Open final, the 21-year-old became the first American woman since Williams in 2013 to triumph at the Chinese tournament. Also, she became the first player in the Open Era to win her first seven finals played on hard.
"That's pretty cool. I hope somebody else breaks it. I think records are meant to be broken, honestly. Honestly, it means a lot when I saw that the last American woman to win this was Serena Williams. Anytime my name is mentioned in whatever sentence hers is, it's a huge honor," Gauff said after making it all the way at the China Open last year and securing two notable feats.
Prior to the start of the US Open, Gauff made a big change when she hired biomechanics coach Gavin MacMillan to help her fix her serving woes. They had time to do some work after the American's US Open round-of-16 exit, and it will be interesting to see if she can defend her Beijing title.
