BEIJING -- Coco Gauff has enjoyed notable success at the China Open, having either won the tournament or reached the semifinals in her three appearances. She claimed the title in 2024 and has followed it up with two other final four finishes, making it one of her most consistent events on the WTA Tour.
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Gauff attributed her success to her relaxed mindset, expressing that she enters the tournament without specific expectations. "Honestly, I have no expectations this week," she said during her pre-tournament press conference. "I don't know why I always do well here, but I always enter this tournament with zero expectations. Maybe that's why I've been doing well here."
With the Grand Slam season behind her, Gauff is treating her time in China as a "practice month" to focus on her training and strategies for the upcoming 2027 season. "I feel like a lot of the pressure is off," she noted, adding that the conclusion of the Slams reduces chaos and allows her to play more relaxed.
In preparing for future matches, Gauff aims to increase both her aggression and first-serve success rate. This season, she has a first-serve percentage of 62.5%, winning 68.4% of those points. She has also won 70.6% of her service games, with a total of 468 wins out of 663 games played.
As the 2026 season winds down, Gauff still has ambitions across Beijing and Wuhan, where she is the defending champion. She currently sits fifth in the race for the WTA Finals at Indian Wells. In Beijing, she is the No. 3 seed following Jessica Pegula's withdrawal and will face the winner of the match between Camila Osorio and Lanlana Tararudee in the second round.