Madrid Open: Gauff battles illness

Coco Gauff played through illness and came back from a set down to beat Sorana Cirstea 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 and reach the Madrid Open round of 16 on Sunday, April 26. (wtatennis.com) (olympics.com) The World No. 3 vomited during the match, said she had been sick all day, and still recovered from a set and a break down to set a fourth-round meeting with Linda Noskova. (wtatennis.com) (usatoday.com) Gauff is one of several players dealing with a stomach virus at the Caja Magica this week, according to Olympics.com’s event coverage. The win kept the American alive in a WTA 1000 event two weeks before Rome and a month before Roland Garros. (olympics.com) On the men’s side, Jannik Sinner beat Elmer Moller 6-2, 6-3 in 77 minutes to reach the fourth round and extend his ATP Masters 1000 winning streak to 24 matches. (atptour.com) (tennismajors.com) ATP Tour said Sinner arrived in Madrid chasing a fifth straight Masters 1000 title after winning Paris, Indian Wells, Miami and Monte-Carlo. Tennis Majors reported the Moller result pushed him past Rafael Nadal’s previous mark for consecutive Masters 1000 wins. (atptour.com) (tennismajors.com) Madrid also got a homegrown surprise when 19-year-old wild card Rafael Jodar beat No. 27 Joao Fonseca 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-1 to reach his first Masters 1000 round of 16. (tennismajors.com) Jodar was born in Madrid, and Tennis Majors said he will face Vit Kopriva next after the biggest ATP result of his career. (tennismajors.com 1) (tennismajors.com 2) Casper Ruud, the defending Madrid champion, added another odd scene Monday when his third-round match against Alejandro Davidovich was stopped for about 10 minutes after the net broke on Manolo Santana Stadium. (marca.com) (atptour.com) Marca reported the break came with Ruud leading 5-3, 30-30 in the first set, and its main Madrid page later said Ruud went on to eliminate Davidovich. (marca.com 1) (marca.com 2) By Monday, the Madrid Open had turned into two stories at once: Gauff and Sinner kept advancing, and the tournament itself kept producing illness scares and on-court disruption. (wtatennis.com) (atptour.com) (marca.com)