Coco Gauff said she was racially abused on social media after her win over Sun Xinran at the China Open.
The world number 4 defeated the 16-year-old from China 7-5 6-1 in Beijing to advance to the round of 16.
Gauff was serving to stay the first set at 4-5 when Sun thought he had hit a winner, but the American had already raised his hand to stop the point as lights flashed on the side panels around the court.
Gauff took the next three points to keep it 5-5 and then dropped just one game in the match.
Trying to explain the situation at X, the 22-year-old said: “It was an unfortunate situation but it’s out of my control.
“Khinran is an incredible talent and player, I apologized for the situation at the end of the match and he completely understood.”
Gauff then responded with a racist response to his post: “Hi everyone, it’s okay to dislike me or disagree with what’s going on without being racist.
“The amount of racist comments/dms I’ve received in the last few hours is insane.
“After all, I’m not a fraud or a thief.”