Coco Gauff overcame an apparent stomach bug — and vomiting — en route to a victory at the Madrid Open.
Gauff, the No. 3 seed in the tournament, vomited into a bin during the second set of the match, in which she subsequently won 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 against Sorana Cîrstea.
Illness has been a theme at the Madrid Open as several players have reportedly struggled with fatigue during the tournament.
Among those have been tournament No. 4 seed Iga Swiatek, a six-time Grand Slam winner who was eliminated by No. 31 seed Ann Li in a walkover.
Swiatek retired during the third set while training 3-0, citing “zero stability and zero energy” as her reason for ending the Round of 32 match prematurely.
In the Round of 64, Marin Cilic withdrew before his second-round match with No. 27 seed Joao Fonseca on Friday, effectively dropping out of the tournament.
Liudmila Samsonova did the same in the Round of 32 on Sunday, dropping out of the tournament, citing an illness, before her scheduled encounter with Linda Noskova.
Gauff discussed the battle with illness following her hard-fought victory.
“I don’t know how I got it done,” she said in an interview with Sky Sports, noting that she had been playing while trying to keep her food down.
“Once I threw up and I was able to throw up again after the first set and then throw up again, I felt a little better,” she added with a laugh. “I think I got the Madrid stomach virus that’s going around.”
Gauff will face the aforementioned Noskova in the Round of 16 singles on Monday at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time as she continues on.
Gauff and Robin Montgomery were scheduled to play Quinn Gleason and Ulrikke Eikeri in women’s doubles in the Round of 16, but lost due to a walkover resulting from Gauff’s illness.
