Iga Swiatek retires from Madrid Open third-round match against Ann Li with illness, Coco Gauff vomits on court amid virus concerns

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Iga Swiatek was forced to retire from her Madrid Open third-round match against Ann Li after complaining of "feeling really bad physically".

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The world No. 4, who will be out to win a fifth French Open title in less than a month's time, walked off the court in the third set.

She was trailing 6-7(4) 6-2 0-3 against world No. 34 Li when she required a medical timeout, and a consultation with the tournament doctor.

And Swiatek later revealed that she was suffering with the symptoms of a virus.

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"I’ve been feeling awful for the last two days," Swiatek said. "I think I have some kind of virus.

"I know you all want answers, but I’d mainly be careful. Some hours I’ve been fine, but other times I’ve been feeling really bad.

"I’ve heard there’s something going around in the locker room, a virus that’s out there somewhere. I know I’ll be fine in a couple of days, but today I felt like I had zero energy, zero stability.

"I’ve been feeling really bad physically; yesterday was even worse. I thought maybe things would be better today, and maybe they were, but not enough to play that much.

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"I knew it was going to be tough, but I still wanted to try, because I’ve been sick a couple of times in my career, and I was able to win most of my matches.

"It depended on how bad I was going to feel, and this time it was quite a bit worse than the previous times."

Swiatek will hope for a swift recovery, with the Italian Open starting next week as the clay swing continues towards its conclusion at Roland-Garros - which will be shown live on TNT Sports and HBO Max.

"I wanted to give myself a chance and see how things went," Swiatek added. "I haven’t spoken to my team yet about the next few days, about the logistics before travelling to Rome.

"We’ll probably train somewhere else, since the conditions in Rome are completely different from here. It doesn’t matter, we have plenty of time; the first thing is for me to recover.

"I’m going to need a few days to get rid of this virus, but I hope to be well and ready in three or four days. Then I’ll be ready to train."

Swiatek comfortably beat Ukrainian Daria Snigur 6-1 6-2 in her previous match, and was expected to compete for a second Madrid Open title.

"I’ve had some really good moments off the court," she said. "On the court, before the tournament started, I felt like I was playing really well.

"It’s a shame for me to see that I can’t play, that I’m unable to. I was feeling really comfortable with my game, I was making progress.

"That was positive, but the tournament had barely started for me, and today I couldn’t even compete. It’s disappointing. There aren’t many positive things to take away, to be honest."

Gauff vomits on court during win over Cirstea

Coco Gauff had sickness concerns of her own in her 4-6 7-5 6-1 victory over Romania’s Sorana Cirstea in the Spanish capital.

The third seed had to rush to the side of the court to vomit in the second set, after losing the first set.

But she recovered admirably to win and advance, avoiding the same fate as Swiatek despite growing worries of a bug spreading amongst players.

"I don’t know how I got it done," Gauff told Sky Sports. "Just dealing with a lot of trying to keep my food down. But once I threw up - and I was able to throw up after the first set - I felt a bit better.

"It was just a tough match. I think I got the Madrid stomach virus that’s going around. I’m usually someone who doesn’t get sick. My luck today just wasn’t good."

Gauff will play world No. 13 Linda Noskova in the next round, after the Czech got a walkover in the third round because Liudmila Samsonova was also ill.

The 22-year-old confirmed that she would keep going despite her illness during her courtside interview after the match.

”Yeah, I don’t know. Honestly, I was just trying to finish the match and one point turned into another,” she said.

”I think I got what everybody else is having here in Madrid, unfortunately. Just gotta try to push through for tomorrow.

”Honestly, I was trying not to throw up on the court. It was a weird, weird feeling today. I don’t know how I got through it.

”I just pulled out in Indian Wells, I’m not someone who likes to pull out, so I didn’t want to pull out again today. I’m glad I was able to get through it.”

TNT Sports is the exclusive French Open broadcaster in the UK and Ireland. Coverage of every court will be available to stream live on HBO Max.

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