Iga Swiatek\u2019s struggles have continued with a tearful withdrawal during her third-round match against Ann Li at the Madrid Open.<\/p>\n
The former world No.1, yet to advance beyond the quarter-finals at any event this season, revealed afterwards on Saturday that she\u2019s battling a virus and had her temperature and blood pressure checked after losing the opening two games of the deciding set.<\/p>\n
After taking pills, Swiatek initially continued, but she looked lethargic and pulled the plug trailing the American Li 6-7 (4-7) 6-2 0-3 0-30 before walking off the court in tears.<\/p>\n
Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Arrow<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe last two days were pretty terrible,\u201d said the Pole.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I have some virus.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been some hours fine, some hours pretty bad. I heard there is something going on between players, that the virus is somewhere on site.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sure I\u2019ll be fine in a couple of days, but I had zero energy.<\/p>\n \u201cI just felt really bad physically, and yesterday, even worse. I thought maybe today it\u2019s going to be better \u2014 maybe it was, but not enough to play a match.\u201d<\/p>\n Swiatek looked to have turned the contest around after losing a tight opening set but it was no surprise when she called it a day given her demeanour in the third set.<\/p>\n Asked if she considered not taking to the court at all, the fourth seed said: \u201cI knew that it was going to be hard but I still wanted to try.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the third set, I started feeling a little bit dizzy and not really co-ordinated. I couldn\u2019t really drink anything because I just felt like I\u2019m full constantly, and the energy went down drastically.\u201d<\/p>\n Swiatek will now focus on recovering before turning her thoughts to the Italian Open in Rome next month, where she will hope to find form under new coach Francisco Roig ahead of Roland Garros.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s sad for me that I can\u2019t play because I was feeling really good with my game, and I was moving forward in the process,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe tournament has just started. I couldn\u2019t even compete today, so it\u2019s disappointing.\u201d<\/p>\n It has also been a difficult season for two-time grand slam finalist Jasmine Paolini and she crashed out in the third round, losing 7-5 6-3 to American Hailey Baptiste.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Voss issues update on Ollie Hollands after sudden withdrawal<\/p>\n 3 min read<\/p>\n