Coco Gauff overcomes vomiting on court to beat Sorana Cirstea in Madrid

MADRID (AP) — Coco Gauff has advanced to the fourth round of the Madrid Open despite falling ill and vomiting on court.

Gauff, a finalist in Madrid last year, rallied to beat Sorana Cirstea 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 on Sunday.

The American threw up on court in the middle of the second set.

“When I actually threw up on the court, that was like a little bit embarrassing,” Gauff said. “Then after that first game and the second, I was like that took everything out of me.”

On Saturday, fourth-ranked Iga Swiatek withdrew due to an unspecified illness while playing her round-of-32 match against American Ann Li.

Gauff said she was determined to carry on her match.

“I’m someone who doesn’t like to pull out. I don’t like to do that unless I really feel like I have no other options,” Gauff said. “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 recovered from a break down three times before winning the set 7-5.

The third-ranked Gauff said she doesn’t know how she “got through that,” and said she almost threw up in the middle of a point.

“I felt fine all this morning. I felt a little weird last night, but I was OK. Woke up this morning, felt fine. And mid-first set, I was feeling like I was going to throw up. And then I did,” she said. “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 will next meet No. 13 seed Linda Noskova.

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis