Coco Gauff arrives in Beijing with a familiar tournament behind her and a very different mindset ahead of her. The American enters the 2026 China Open as the No. 3 seed and 2024 champion, but rather than treating the WTA 1000 event as another must-win tournament, Gauff is using the final stretch of the season to fine-tune her game before 2027.
With the four Grand Slams already completed, the 22-year-old believes some of the pressure that accompanies the biggest tournaments has lifted. That has allowed her to approach the Asian swing with a more experimental mindset, focusing particularly on becoming more aggressive with her groundstrokes and improving her first-serve percentage.
“I feel like a lot of the pressure is off,” Gauff said. “I don’t know why I always do well here, but I always enter this tournament with zero expectations.” That relaxed approach could prove significant in Beijing, where Gauff has developed one of the strongest records of her young career. Gauff’s Beijing record speaks for itself. Gauff has played the China Open three times and has never failed to reach at least the semifinals. Her run in Beijing includes the 2024 title, sandwiched between two final-four appearances.
The 2026 edition, however, comes at a different stage of her career. The American is no longer approaching the tournament simply as a rising Grand Slam contender. She arrives as a former US Open champion, a past China Open winner and one of the leading names in the WTA Finals race. Gauff’s second-round opponent in Beijing will be either Camila Osorio or Lanlana Tararudee. She received a first-round bye as one of the tournament’s top seeds.
The China Open begins on September 30 and runs until October 11. It is the second-to-last WTA 1000 tournament of the season and features a 96-player singles draw. A practice month, not a pressure month. Gauff’s priorities in Beijing are unusually specific. The American wants to take bigger cuts at the ball and become more aggressive during rallies. Her other major focus is the first serve. Through 59 matches in 2026, Gauff has landed 62.5% of her first serves and won 68.4% of points behind those first serves. She has also won 468 of 663 service games, a 70.6% rate.
“Yeah, I think just going for my shots a little bit more, trying to be a bit more aggressive. I think also higher first-serve percentage. I win a lot of first-serve percentage points, so I’m just trying to increase that number for making more first serves in.” The aim is not necessarily to overhaul her game. Instead, Gauff is looking to sharpen areas that could become important when the 2027 Grand Slam season begins.
“I feel like a lot of the pressure is off,” Gauff said. “I think that’s also part of the reason why maybe I do do well at this part of the season, just because I feel a little bit more relaxed. The main thing is the slams being over, it’s a lot less chaos now.” Gauff will have to navigate a field packed with established Grand Slam champions. World No. 1 Elena Rybakina leads the draw, followed by Aryna Sabalenka, Gauff and Mirra Andreeva.
Former China Open champions Iga Swiatek and Naomi Osaka are also in the field. Gauff and Swiatek are positioned in the same quarter, creating the possibility of another high-profile meeting later in the tournament. Rybakina and Sabalenka headline the opposite half of the draw. The tournament is being played on outdoor hard courts at the China National Tennis Center and offers 1,000 ranking points to the champion.
The most interesting part of Gauff’s Beijing campaign may not be how far she goes. It may be what she changes along the way. For a player who has already won a Grand Slam and the China Open, Beijing represents something different this time. Gauff is using the Asian swing to test improvements that could become part of her long-term game. Her position in the WTA Finals race also gives the tournament significance.
Gauff currently sits fifth in the Race to the WTA Finals, behind Elena Rybakina, Aryna Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula and Mirra Andreeva in the latest standings cited by the WTA. With Beijing followed by Wuhan, the coming weeks remain important for her season-ending position. But Gauff is approaching the period without the intensity associated with the Grand Slam calendar. “Honestly, I have no expectations this week,” Gauff said.
“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.” For the 2024 China Open champion, Beijing is therefore more than another title opportunity. A chance to swing harder, serve more consistently and build towards the next season. And if the results follow, that development could make the final weeks of 2026 even more significant for Coco Gauff and her preparations for 2027.
