Madrid heartbreak for Coco Gauff as late collapse hands Linda Noskova upset win

No 3 seed Gauff was beaten 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(5) by 13th seed Linda Noskova in the last 16 at the WTA 1000 tournament on Monday.

Gauff was up a double break at 4-1 in the final set, and she also led 3-0 and 4-2 in the decisive tiebreak, but Noskova fought back to seal the upset.

After her victory on Manolo Santana Stadium court, Noskova said: "I know the match is not over until it's over.

"I was kind of saying to myself that I'm still close⦠even though it's 1-4 [in the third set]. I just wanted to find my rhythm and my game all over again.

"I was kind of hoping or counting on that game [in the second set] that I was going to have the break up and then it didn't happen and I kind of lost my rhythm.

"Obviously, also with Coco who is such a player, it's never easy to find it immediately back again and continue the way you want it to play. But I just wanted to restart in the third set."

Gauff began Madrid just ahead of Swiatek in the live WTA Rankings, but both were defending big points and swapped positions during the tournament.

Swiatek briefly moved ahead before being forced to retire due to illness, while Gauff's run ended in the fourth round after a strong start.

As a result, Gauff will drop to world No 4 when the rankings update, with Swiatek reclaiming the advantage despite also being affected by the virus in Madrid.

READ MORE: Colin Nathan: Nqothole and Dlamini are in the prime of their careers