No Surrender: Gritty Gauff Vomits on Court, Rallies Past Cirstea in Madrid Comeback

By Richard Pagliaro | Sunday, April 26, 2026
Photo credit: Robert Prange/Getty

Leaning on her Head stick as if it were a cane, woozy winner Coco Gauff was too drained to celebrate her spirited comeback.

A queasy Gauff vomited into a trash can midway through the second set and took a medical timeout, but showed her fierce appetite for the fight and no sign of surrender. Gauff lost a punishing 15-minute game at the start of the third set and then surged through five games in a row in a rousing revival at the Mutua Madrid Open.

Battling both a stomach bug and stubborn Cirstea, Gauff prevailed 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 to reach the Mutua Madrid Open round of 16.

Today, Gauff got through the battle with her body and an experienced foe relying on her grit, resilience and resourcefulness conquering Cirstea for the third time in as many meetings.

The third-seeded Gauff will face hard-hitting Czech Linda Noskova for a place in the Madrid quarterfinals. Gauff is 2-0 lifetime against Noskova, who took a walkover into the fourth round when scheduled opponent Liudmila Samsonova withdrew with illness, which has been infecting the field this weekend.

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A day after six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek retired from Madrid in tears due to a stomach illness while trailing American Ann Li, 0-3 in the final set, Gauff was in deep distress today.

Reigning Roland Garros champion Gauff saw Cirstea punish her second serve breaking four times in a row in building a one-set lead.

Clad in identical olive-green New Balance kits, Cirstea and Gauff exchanged breaks continuously for one stretch.

Another Gauff double fault gave the Romanian a break point. Cirstea threw down a smash, scoring the 10th break of the day for a 4-3 second- lead.

Gauff showed her competitive character after earning triple break point—then suddenly losing her lunch. 

Immediately after earning break points, Gauff trotted over to the court-side trash can and vomited into it. Returning to court, Gauff got right back to work hammering a drive in rattling out an error to break back for 4-all.

Following that break, Gauff took a timeout for treatment of her illness. The physio took Gauff’s blood pressure and was soon joined on court by the tournament doctor.

Returning to action after the timeout, Gauff stamped a solid hold for 5-4.

Striking with more urgency after she got sick, Gauff rapped successive forehand strikes down the line for double set point in the 12th game. When Cirstea crashed a forehand into net on the second set point, Gauff leveled the match after 97 minutes of play.

The 2025 finalist was battling both her queasy stomach and a feisty Cirstea as she held to start the final set.

The third seed immediately tightened the screws on Cirstea’s serve earning multiple break points in the second game.

On her fourth break point, Gauff stepped in to greet a second serve but smothered her forehand return into net. 

Dabbing a drop shot, Gauff gained a sixth break point. A courageous Cirstea hit a kick second serve off the line setting up a clean backhand winner to deny it.

Digging deep, Cirstea saved all six break points showing her toughness in a tense 15-minute hold to level the final set after two games.

Two games later, Gauff’s relentless depth  caused Cirstea to crack. Gauff broke at 15 for 3-1.

Leaning into her two-hander, Gauff blasted a backhand crosscourt capping her second straight challenging hold to confirm the break for 4-1.

Surprisingly, the veteran Cirstea was unable to really test Gauff’s health and make her move corner to corner. Sometimes, seeing an opponent physically compromised can cloud a player’s decision making as it did yesterday when Ugo Humbert, seeing opponent Terence Atmane writhing around in agony suffering cramps on court, failed to test his compatriot’s legs in the second-set tiebreaker and Atmane won five points in a row to prevail.

The 2025 Tour leader in clay-court wins, Gauf drained the drama from a stomach-churning clash with her convincing close today.

Stepping into the court, Gauff crunched a diagonal forehand winner to break for 5-1. 

When Cirstea’s final shot missed the mark, Gauff leaned over on her racquet, too tired or ill to indulge in celebratory zeal. At net, Gauff paused offering to tap racquets rather than shake hands for fear of spreading sickness to Cirstea. Ultimately, Cirstea approved the handshake and Gauff will try to rebound in the round of 16.