MADRID – Tennis players are playing against unknown opponents at the Madrid Open.
Coco Gauff, Marin Cilic and several others have been affected by stomach viruses and food poisoning, causing concern.
World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka avoided an upset by Naomi Osaka on court Monday and said she is trying to avoid illness by sticking to a simple diet of chicken breast, rice and salad.
Rumors were circulating among players that the shrimp tacos were bad.
Sabalenka knocked on the wood and said, “So far so good. I heard you have to avoid those tacos (lol). I’m sticking to the same food, the same meal that I’ve been eating since the beginning of the tournament.”
Sabalenka said she spends as little time as possible on the grounds of the Caja Magica tennis facility.
“I try not to stay too long,” she said. “Take a lot of vitamin C, take a lot of IM8, and hopefully you’ll be fine.”
Gauff vomited on court Sunday during her win over Solana Cirstea. Cilic missed Friday’s match against Joao Fonseca.
“Unfortunately, I got food poisoning,” Cilic said. “After trying to recover all night, unfortunately my body is exhausted and not at the proper level to participate in combat.”
Sabalenka faced Osaka in the fourth round, recovering from a set and a breakdown.
She defeated No. 15 Osaka 6-7 (1), 6-3, 6-2 in two hours and 20 minutes to advance to the quarterfinals and stay on track to defend her title.
“Oh my god, it was unbelievable,” Sabalenka said. “She played unbelievable tennis. I think she just got lucky with a few hits in the third set. That’s why it went so quickly. I’m glad she brought that fight. I needed to fight through to level up my game.”
Sabalenka won 15 straight matches and reached her 17th consecutive quarterfinal. She hasn’t lost before that round since Dubai in February 2025. The Belarusian said her team kept pushing her to “keep fighting and keep moving forward.”
Sabalenka said, “I’m really happy that I didn’t give up and fought my way to the final spot.”
Sabalenka will next face Hayley Baptiste, who defeated Belinda Bencic 6-1, 6-7 (14), 6-3 after dropping the second set in the longest regular tiebreak at the tour level since 2024, according to the WTA.
Baptiste broke his racket in frustration after losing a set in which he wasted six match points, including five in the tiebreak.
The American, ranked 32nd in the world, fought back to win in 2 hours and 42 minutes.
World No. 2 Elena Rybakina said she doesn’t trust Madrid’s electronic phone calling system. After being given an ace by her opponent Zheng Qinwen in the second set, she complained to the chair umpire. Rybakina said her mark on the court was off. The referee refused the mark inspection and upheld the system. Rybakina ultimately won in three sets on Sunday.
“Well, I don’t believe in this at all,” Rybakina said. Because there wasn’t even a trace of anything close to what was shown on TV.
She felt it was a similar situation to what happened to male player Alexander Zverev in Madrid last year. So he finally picked up his cell phone and took a photo of the imprint of the wrong call. Zverev was cautioned for unsportsmanlike conduct.
“There’s no way you can’t see that,” Rybakina said. “That was a stolen point in a way. I understand it was her serve, and she had a very good serve, but I’m really disappointed.”
On Monday, Daniel Merida lost 6-4, 6-2 to Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alejandro Davidovic Fokina lost 6-3, 6-1 to defending champion Casper Ruud, leaving 19-year-old Rafael Jodal as the only Spaniard left in the tournament.
Jodal, one of the tour’s up-and-coming stars, needed three sets to overtake fellow teenage sensation Fonseca.
Carlos Alcaraz, Spain’s current top player and world No. 2, withdrew from his home tournament due to a right wrist injury.
In the Rudd vs. Davidovich Fokina match, there was an unusually long rally when the Spaniard relied on 15 consecutive lob shots to the back of the court.
A high return on a 32-shot rally prevented Rudd from attacking until one shot narrowly missed and he hit a powerful forehand to take the point.
In the match between Francisco Cerundro and Luciano Daldelli, Cerundro made a high return over the net and spun back to Daldelli’s side of the court to score the point. Cerundolo won the match 6-2, 6-3.
