A mysterious illness is sweeping through the Madrid Open, and American star Coco Gauff became its most high-profile victim in a dramatic on-court battle.

Gauff had a very tough outing against Sorana Cirstea in the second round. Though the World No. 3 made a remarkable comeback after being a set and a break down to win 4-6, 7-5, 6-1, her physical condition was far from all right. She had called for the physio during the second set and had even puked on the court, showing symptoms of the illness. Following the match, the American confessed that she may have picked up the Madrid “virus” even though she usually doesn’t get sick.

“I don’t know how I got it done. Just tried to keep my food down, but once I threw up, I threw up again after the first set and then I felt a bit better. I don’t know, it was a tough match. I think I got the Madrid virus that is going around and I’m usually someone who doesn’t get sick. But my luck today just wasn’t good,” Gauff told Sky Sports during her post-match interview.

Though it looked like Gauff may suffer an early elimination due to her physical struggles, she fought back brilliantly and managed to stay alive in the tournament. An exit here could have dealt a major blow to her ranking as she had made it to the final in Madrid last year, but she overcame all the difficulties to claim victory at the Manolo Santana Stadium.

Despite not having a great relationship with clay, Gauff admitted that the surface helped her quite a bit during the match against Cirstea.

“The clay helped me today because the ball was a little bit slower, so it bounced higher. It gave me time to get to some balls when I wasn’t moving my best.”

She will be taking on Linda Noskova in the third round of the Madrid Open. Gauff had claimed victory in the two clashes that she has had against the Czech and will be the favorite to win this time around as well.

Though Gauff didn’t give in to the illness and managed to come out victorious against Cirstea, the other players who suffered from a similar condition in Madrid ended up having a very different fate.

Iga Swiatek, Marin Cilic and more withdraw due to similar illness

Iga Swiatek also appeared to be struggling due to the hot conditions during her second-round clash against Ann Li. With the match tied at one set each and the Pole losing the third set 0-2, a doctor was called to check her condition.

Though the match would soon resume, Swiatek would retire after losing the third consecutive game of the set. She was seen crying while leaving the Arantxa Sanchez Stadium.

Another player to pull out from the second round of the Madrid Open was Marin Cilic. He was forced to withdraw ahead of his match against Joao Fonseca due to food poisoning. The Croatian had confirmed about this through an emotional Instagram post.

“Unfortunately, I got food poisoning yesterday. After trying to recover all night, my body is unfortunately exhausted and not at the proper level to get into the battle. Apologies to all the fans who were waiting to watch the match. I was so excited to be back in Madrid. Gracias a todos for the support,” the post read.

Coincidentally, this wasn’t the first time that Cilic had suffered food poisoning at the Madrid Open. He had pulled out from his quarterfinal clash against Novak Djokovic in the 2019 edition due to the same problem.

Finally, Madison Keys had also withdrawn from her second-round match against Zhang Shuai due to an illness. She had pulled out just minutes before the clash, throwing the draw into chaos. She was eventually replaced by Anastasia Potapova, who took full advantage of the opportunity provided to her and defeated Shuai 6-3, 6-1.

It remains to be seen if even more players will fall prey to the spreading illness as the Madrid Open progresses further.