Alexandra Eala hits Coco Gauff during the third round match at the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday, March 8, 2026 in Indian Wells, California. American tennis star Coco Gauff retired in the second match of her highly anticipated match against Filipino newcomer Alexandra Eala at the PNB Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California on Sunday night.
Gauff, ranked fourth in the U.S., withdrew in the third round due to left arm pain and lost 6-2, 2-0 to 31st seed Eala.
Gauff (21) later said that he felt that way from the second game of the first set.
“To put it simply, it felt like fireworks exploded inside my arm and my whole arm felt like it was on fire.” “It’s great,” said Gauff, who retired from this level of play only once before, in 2022 at Cincinnati.
“Yeah, we’ll find out what it is tomorrow, but based on what I’m feeling, I’m told it’s probably nerve-related,” she said. “It’s never happened before, I’ve never felt anything like this, I’ve never felt anything like this before.
“And as the game went on, it got worse and worse, even when I wasn’t using my left arm for shots that didn’t even use my left arm,” she continued.
Eala, 20, started the match down 2-1 but won the next five games and the first two of the second set.
“I didn’t want to win like this,” Eala said. “But it’s still a really big moment for me to be able to play against such great competition in Stadium 1 in Indian Wells.”
Eala converted five of six break point opportunities to two of Gauff’s three, while Gauff converted seven double faults to zero for his opponent.
There was no such drama for top seed Arina Sabalenka, who defeated Romania’s Jacqueline Christian 6-4, 6-1. The Belarusian world No. 1 hit three double faults from five aces and saved five of six break points while converting four of six.
Sabalenka next faces Japan’s Naomi Osaka, the 2018 Indian Wells champion who defeated Colombia’s Camila Osorio 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 in the third round. Osaka, the 16th seed, has only defeated Sabalenka once, at the 2018 US Open.
Sixth-seeded Amanda Anisimova of the United States beat 25th-seeded Emma Raducanu of Great Britain 6-1, 6-1. Next up was Canada’s 10th seed Victoria Mboko, who beat 23rd seed Anna Kalinskaya of Russia 6-4, 6-1.
Italy’s Jasmine Paolini, seeded seventh, beat Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic 7-5, 5-7, 6-1. 14th seed Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic defeated Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4. Denmark’s Clara Tauson, the 17th seed, lost to Australia’s Talia Gibson 7-6(2), 4-6, 6-4.
–Field level media
