The sixth time was the charm for Elise Mertens in her rivalry with Coco Gauff.
No. 13 seed Mertens defeated No. 3 seed Gauff for the first time 6-3, 6-3 in the China Open fourth round, advancing to her first Beijing quarterfinal in her seventh appearance.
Despite trailing 0-5 in their head-to-head prior to Wednesday, Mertens had come close to beating Gauff before. In their first meeting, she led the then 17-year-old 6-0, 3-1 in the 2021 Eastbourne first round before falling 0-6, 7-6(4), 7-5. Eight months ago, she held three match points on Gauff in the Dubai third round, only for the American to escape 2-6, 7-6(9), 6-3.
This time, Mertens held on in impressive style, winning 10 of her last 11 service points and sealing victory with her second ace — ironically, her first straightforward scoreline of the tournament so far. In the second round, she led Katie Volynets 6-0, 3-0 but ultimately needed to come from a break down in the decider to win 6-0, 4-6, 7-5 in 2 hours and 54 minutes. In the third round, she overturned a 2-0 third-set deficit to quell Jelena Ostapenko 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.
After sealing the win over Gauff, she revealed she had some extra motivation — though it was more about romance than revenge.
“My coach/boyfriend [Christopher Heyman], it’s his birthday tomorrow,” she said in her on-court interview. “So for me, this win is dedicated to him.”
Gauff, the 2024 Beijing champion, delivered a flat performance, racking up 34 unforced errors in total. Eight of those were double faults, and four of those came as she dropped serve in the final game of the first set. Trailing 4-1 in the second set, Gauff told her team courtside that she had “no energy” and felt as though she would pass out.
The result is Mertens’ 10th career Top 5 win, and her second of 2026 following her upset of Elena Rybakina in the Wimbledon third round. It’s the third time in her career that she’s scored multiple Top 5 wins in a single season — in 2018, the Belgian defeated Elina Svitolina at the Australian Open and Sloane Stephens in Cincinnati; in 2021, she topped Svitolina again at the Gippsland Trophy in Melbourne, and Simona Halep in Madrid.
Mertens advances to her second quarterfinal at WTA 1000 level or above this year, following her run to the last eight of Wimbledon. She’ll take on another former winner, 2023 champion and No. 8 seed Iga Swiatek — another player she has yet to defeat, though her 0-2 record against the Pole may seem less intimidating after finally getting over the Gauff hurdle. Mertens will be bidding to reach her first semifinal at WTA 1000 level or above since Dubai 2021.