An outcry over the whereabouts of Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai escalated on Friday as the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) said it was prepared to pull its tournaments out of China over the issue, prompting an influential Chinese state media editor to criticise the organisation for using a “coercive tone”.

Former doubles world No.1 Peng has not been seen or heard from publicly since she said on Chinese social media on November 2 that former vice-premier Zhang Gaoli coerced her into sex and they later had an on-off consensual relationship.

Concern among the global tennis community and beyond has grown over Peng’s safety and whereabouts since her allegation, with the WTA calling for an investigation. Some of the world’s top tennis players, including Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka, as well as the German Olympic Committee have tweeted #WhereIsPengShuai.

WTA chief executive Steve Simon told various US media outlets on Thursday the tour would consider pulling tournaments worth tens of millions of dollars out of China.

Hu Xijin, the editor of the Global Times, responded to Simon’s comments on Twitter on Friday, saying “don’t use a coercive tone when expressing any concern to China.”

The hashtag #WhereIsPengShuai has so far racked up over 32 million mentions on Facebook’s Instagram and Twitter, according to hashtag analysis website BrandMentions.