Gauff survives illness, Cirstea scares to reach Madrid Round of 16

It was a difficult day for World No. 3 Coco Gauff, but the lesson from it is she can find a way to win.

Battling an illness as well as being down a set and a break against No. 25 seed Sorana Cirstea in third-round action on Sunday, Gauff looked headed for an early exit from this year's Mutua Madrid Open.

But the American, a Madrid finalist one year ago, fought back to win 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 and advance to the fourth round, where she will meet No. 13 seed Linda Noskova.

Cirstea starts stong and leads by a set and a break

Cirstea, who had lost both of her previous career meetings against Gauff, got off to a quick start, breaking the American's serve to take a 4-2 lead. Although Gauff fought back to level at 4-4, Cirstea earned a second break and served out the opening set 6-4. In the second set, the Romanian, who is playing her final season on tour before retiring, broke early to move ahead 2-0.

Guaff rallies for eighth three-set win in 2026

But, as she has so many times before, Gauff battled back even after throwing up on court in the middle of the second set.  The American recovered from a break down on three occasions before rallying to win the set 7-5.

She went on to dominate the third set, winning the final five games to complete a 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 victory in 2 hours, 21 minutes and improve to 3-0 lifetime against Cirstea. All three of Gauff's wins over Cirstea have come in three sets.

It was Gauff's eighth three-set match win of 2026. Only Jessica Pegula (10) and Magda Linette (nine) have won more WTA main-draw matches in three sets this year.

"I don't know how I got through that" - Gauff

This is the third straight year, and fourth overall, that Gauff has reached the fourth round in Madrid.

"I don't know how I got through that," Gauff told the media after her win. "I felt fine all this morning. I felt a little weird last night, but I was okay. Woke up this morning, felt fine. And mid-first set, I was feeling like I was going to throw up. And then I did.

"They gave me some pills and that definitely helped. After that, once I felt the feeling of throwing up, then I just felt nauseous and tired. I just didn't want to throw up in the middle of the point, which I almost did at one point."

Gauff added that she decided to continue playing even while feeling ill because she does not like to pull out in the middle of a match.

"When I actually threw up on the court, that was like a little bit embarrassing. Then after that first game and the second, I was like that took everything out of me. I'm someone who doesn't like to pull out (of matches). I don't like to do that unless I really feel like I have no other options. So the plan was to always just try to finish, even if it ended up with me, just playing just to get through it," she added.

Gauff's next opponent will be Noskova, who advanced by walkover as Liudmila Samsonova withdrew because of illness. Gauff holds a 2-0 career head-to-head edge over the Czech.