Coco Gauff’s 2026 Madrid Open campaign ended with a three-set loss to Linda Noskova, and the result is a welcome boost for Iga Swiatek in the WTA Rankings.
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.
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“I let [the third set] go away a little too far, but I’m still glad I pulled it out.”
In the latest edition of the WTA Rankings, Gauff occupied the world No 3 spot with 7,279 points — putting her just six points ahead of fourth-ranked Swiatek.
The American was, however, defending 650 points in Madrid as she was a runner-up at last year’s event, which dropped her total to 6,629 in the Live WTA Rankings before her opening match.
Swiatek was defending 390 points from her 2025 Madrid semi-final run, which put her on 6,883 points — 254 clear of Gauff — at the start of her campaign.
After winning her opening match, Swiatek was forced to retire during her third round contest with Ann Li due to a virus, which left her on 6,948 points.
Gauff improved her points total in the Live WTA Rankings to 6,749 by defeating Leolia Jeanjean and Sorana Cirstea in her first two matches.
The 22-year-old’s fourth round loss to Noskova, though, means she will drop to world No 4 when the WTA Rankings update as she needed to reach the semi-finals in Madrid to climb back above Swiatek.
The two-time major champion revealed after beating Cirstea in the third round that she had been struggling with the virus that has affected Swiatek and other players in the Spanish capital.
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