Potapova and Noskova send Rybakina and Gauff packing as Madrid draw is turned on its head
Potapova (lucky loser) beat Rybakina (No 2) 7-6 (8), 6-4 after entering the draw when Keys withdrew on Friday morning; Noskova (No 13) beat Gauff (No 3) 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 from a double break down in the third set. Two of the tournament favourites are out. The quarter-finals are wide open.
Anastasia Potapova, Madrid 2026 | © Madrid Trophy Promotion
The women’s draw at the Mutua Madrid Open lost its two biggest remaining names on Monday, as Russian Anastasia Potapova eliminated second seed Elena Rybakina 7-6 (8), 6-4 and Czech Linda Noskova, the No 13 seed, beat No 3 seed Coco Gauff 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 in one of the most remarkable comebacks of the tournament.
Potapova’s story is the more improbable of the two. She lost in the final qualifying round to Austrian Sinja Kraus last week, entered the draw only when Madison Keys withdrew on Friday morning with illness, beat Zhang Shuai in the second round – still warming up from three days of inactivity – then beat Jelena Ostapenko and, on Monday, the Australian Open champion and WTA Race leader.
She won the opening set in a tiebreak that reached 8-6, trading blows with a player who had won 36 of her last 41 matches, and closed out the second by winning eleven of the last twelve points. “I’m very happy,” she said. “I got my second chance during this tournament and I think I’m using it pretty good. It’s just enjoyment and excitement.” On what the win meant for her confidence: “She’s Australian Open champion, she’s No. 2, she’s one of the best right now. Of course I’m feeling grateful for this win, but also I don’t want to stop at this win. I want to keep improving.”
Noskova’s win over Gauff was a different kind of drama
It is Potapova’s eighth top-10 win and her first since Madrid a year ago — her first WTA 1000 quarter-final since 2024. For Rybakina, who had won the Stuttgart title last week and arrived in Madrid as the WTA Race leader, it is another setback on a surface where she has yet to find her most consistent level this season.
Noskova’s win over Gauff was a different kind of drama. The Czech, who had advanced to the last 16 after Liudmila Samsonova withdrew with illness, faced last year’s finalist and found herself a double break down at 1-4 in the third set – the match seemingly over. She refused to accept it. “I just kept going,” Noskova said. “There were a lot of points that could’ve gone differently. Sometimes I get lost on court. I had to find my rhythm all over again in the third set.” She found it in time to force a tiebreak and close it out — her 12th top-10 win and her 15th victory of 2026.
Gauff, who had herself been battling illness throughout the tournament, exits before the quarter-finals. The defeat has a secondary consequence for the rankings: Iga Swiatek, who retired with illness on Saturday, will return to world No 3 when the new rankings are published, with Rybakina and Sabalenka ahead of her.
