Coco Gauff has said she has been racially abused on social media following an incident in her win over Sun Xinran at the China Open.

The world No 4 won 7-5 6-1 against the 16-year-old from China to progress to the last 16 in Beijing.

Gauff was serving to stay in the first set at 4-5 when Sun thought she had hit a winner, but the American had already raised her hand to stop the point as a light in the side panels around the court was flickering.

Gauff took the next three points to hold for 5-5, and then dropped just one more game in the match.

The 22-year-old tried to explain the situation on X, saying: “It was an unfortunate situation but it is out of my control.

“Xinran is incredible talent and player, I apologised for the situation at the end of the match and she completely understood.”

Gauff then responded to a racist reply to her post by saying: “Hey everyone, you can dislike me or disagree about what happened without being racist.

“The amount of racist comments/dms I’ve received in the last few hours is insane.

“Lastly, I ‘m not a cheater or a thief.”

The top stories and transfer rumours from Tuesday’s newspapers…

PREMIER LEAGUE

Liverpool defender Jeremy Jacquet was left out of the France squad on Monday evening after picking up a hamstring strain – talkSPORT

Noni Madueke has sparked interest from Champions League clubs after struggling to get into the Arsenal side at the start of this season – The Telegraph

Arsenal have been handed yet another injury headache after Max Dowman withdrew from England’s Under-19s squad – The Standard

Antonio Conte has dropped a hint that he would like to take over the reins at Manchester United in the future – Daily Express

Manuel Ugarte has been working with a psychologist and reading Fyodor Dostoyevsky novels as he works to recover from a serious knee injury – The Standard

Willian has admitted he was only ‘chasing the money’ when he left Chelsea for Arsenal, and was immediately unhappy in Mikel Arteta’s team – talkSPORT

ENGLAND

Bournemouth are angry that Alex Scott has suffered a serious injury, despite Thomas Tuchel insisting there was “zero risk” in playing the club’s key midfielder against Croatia – The Telegraph

SCOTTISH FOOTBALL

Dundee boss Steven Pressley is still considering strengthening his injury-hit squad – Daily Record

A North Macedonia local has made a desperate plea to Scotland fans to help find a home for the dog that interrupted Saturday’s Nations League clash – The Scottish Sun

ELSEWHERE

FIFA announced Saudi Arabia as the host nation for the 2034 World Cup almost two years ago but the organisers are already running into serious issues – with the construction of one of their biggest venues set to be scrapped – Daily Mail

Wonderkid goalkeeper Phoenix Blayney, who is set to join Premier League champions Arsenal next season, trained with the Northern Ireland senior team ahead of their Nations League fixture against Georgia – The Standard

World Cup winner and Italian football legend Gennaro Gattuso has revealed he has been battling an autoimmune disease for 15 years – talkSPORT

Attempts to oust Souleiman Waberi as the president of the Djibouti Football Federation (FDF) reached a dramatic climax on Monday as police occupied the federation’s headquarters after a group of club presidents called an extraordinary general assembly aimed at removing the FIFA council member and his executive committee – The Guardian

A football club from Switzerland have released ambitious plans to build a stadium with a rollercoaster and an 80-room hotel attached – Daily Express