April 25 (Reuters) - Six-times Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek retired from her Madrid Open round-of-32 match against American Ann Li on Saturday due to illness, trailing 6-7(4) 6-2 0-3.
The fourth seed at the WTA 1000 clay-court tournament left the court in tears, having called for medical assistance during the match.
"The past two days were pretty terrible, I think I have some virus," said Swiatek, who won the Madrid title in 2024.
"It's been some hours fine, some hours pretty bad. I had zero energy, zero stability, and I just felt really bad physically.
"I knew that (it was) going to be hard but I still wanted to try because I already have been sick twice in my career and I could still win most of my matches. I guess it depends on how bad it is, and I guess this time it was worse than before."
Swiatek's withdrawal deals a blow to her preparations for the French Open, a tournament the Pole has dominated in recent years, winning the title four times, most recently in 2024.
Swiatek, 24, is expected to continue her build-up to Roland Garros at the Italian Open, which runs from May 5-17.
The French Open main draw gets underway on May 24.
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru; editing by Clare Fallon)
