Coco Gauff is the latest player to be struck down by illness at the Madrid Open, but still found a way to keep her title chances alive at the tournament on Sunday.
The third seed battled back from a set down to beat Romania’s Sorana Cirstea 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 despite being visibly unwell. During the second set, Gauff was seen vomiting into a rubbish bin before calling for a medical timeout to check her vitals. Then, in the early stages of the third, she failed to convert six break points during a marathon game before going on to win five games in a row.
“I don’t know, honestly, I was just trying to finish the match and one point turned into another,” Gauff told The Tennis Channel when asked how she came through the match.
“I think I got what everybody else is having here in Madrid, unfortunately, so I’m just going to try to push through for tomorrow.”
Gauff is not the only player struggling with illness in the Spanish capital. On the same day, Liudmila Samsonova withdrew from her match due to feeling unwell. Meanwhile, Iga Swiatek retired when down 0-3 in the third set. Marin Cilic, Madison Keys and Corentin Moutet have also been struggling with a virus.
“I was trying not to throw up like on the court, that was the main thing,” Gauff commented.
“It was a weird feeling today. I don’t know how I got through.
“I did start to feel better (in the third set), not feeling like I had to throw up. They gave me some pills so that definitely helped, but I was really tired.” She added.
Should Gauff recover, her next match will be against Linda Nosková tomorrow, who received a walkover as a result of Samsonova’s withdrawal. Noskova recently reached the semi-finals at Indian Wells and the quarter-finals at the Stuttgart Open. She is yet to reach the quarter-finals of a WTA 1000 event on clay.
Elsewhere at the tournament, Argentina’s Solana Sierra defeated Zeynep Sönmez 0-6, 6-2, 6-3 and Caty McNally ousted Katerina Siniakova 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(2).
