The 20-year-old cruised to a 6-1, 6-3 win over Karolina Muchova in the final in Beijing to clinch her eighth career title, her first since parting ways with former coach Brad Gilbert.
And after lifting her second silverware of the year, a jubilant Gauff took to social media to celebrate, and take aim at her critics.
Following her victory in the WTA-1000 tournament, the American fired a subtle dig at previous comments on many of her singles titles coming in WTA-250 events.
Four of her eight final victories have come in 250 competitions, which award the fewest ranking points to winners, as opposed to the 1,000-point boost she will receive for victory in China.
Sharing a photo of her winners’ trophy on her Instagram story, Gauff wrote: “sHe OnLy wInS 250s… well…. WOMP WOMP.”
But her cheeky swipe clearly did not go down with everyone, as one user then reshared the post on X and commented: “Coco has the mentality of a 5-year-old. I’m sorry.”
This quickly caught the eye of Gauff, who had the perfect response for her critic.
The 2023 US Open champion replied: “Honestly, kids have the best out look on life. they are so positive and creative. so I’ll take it.
“My goal this tournament was to play and enjoy tennis as much as I did when I was a kid because that’s when life was/is the most fun!”
Even Gauff’s decision to engage with the negative comment came in for scrutiny, as a fan then urged her to celebrate her victory rather than spending her time on social media.
The world number four then jokingly admitted that she had only been scrolling through X as she put off packing ahead of her next tournament, this week’s Wuhan Open.
honestly, kids have the best out look on life. they are so positive and creative. so I’ll take it❤️ my goal this tournament was to play and enjoy tennis as much as I did when I was a kid because that’s when life was/is the most fun!
Coco Gauff (@CocoGauff) October 6, 2024\n\n\n”,”width”:550,”height”:550,”provider”:”twitter”,”attribs”:{“data-tweetid”:”1842962615427117078″}}” data-provider=”twitter” data-widget-name=”embed” data-widget-id=”embed-f7d00b19″>
She wrote: “I love u too! I’m bored and procrastinating on packing.
“I don’t even have the app downloaded; i use the website to avoid going on it but everyone now and then likes to pop in and see what’s popping in, lol.”
Gauff was certainly not distracted by any external factors over the course of the week in Beijing, as she showed incredible resilience to pick up her first title since the Auckland Classic in January.
While her straight sets win over Muchova appeared plain sailing, her route to the final was anything but.
The American star lost the opening set but still emerged victorious in each of her previous three matches heading into the decisive encounter.
In doing so, she became the first woman since Iga Swiatek at the 2022 Indian Wells Open to record such a feat in a WTA-1000 event.
This saw her record comeback wins over four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka and Ukraine’s Yuliia Starodubtseva, before getting the better of former world number two Paula Badosa in the semi-finals.
Gauff’s China Open triumph was her first under new coach Matt Daley, who she hired to replace Brad Gilbert, and paid tribute to after the final.
She said: “I would like to thank my team. It’s our first tournament together as a full, complete team.
“Thank you, Matt, This is our first tournament together and obviously it’s going well, so thank you for helping me throughout this week.”
Her latest victory means that Gauff has now won eight of her nine WTA finals, while she became the first American since Serena Williams in 2013 to taste glory in the China Open.
With her ranking set to rise to world number four, the young star will be looking to finish the year strong, as she has now all but secured her place in the season-ending WTA Tour finals.
