Stomach virus forces Roddick out

World number eight Andy Roddick has withdrawn from the Madrid Open due to illness.

The American, who was seeded fifth in the Spanish capital and had received a bye in the first round, had been due to play his second-round match against Feliciano Lopez this afternoon.

Roddick played his opening doubles match with Jurgen Melzer yesterday, losing a lengthy contest against Marcel Granollers and Victor Troicki 6-2 3-6 12-10, but decided to pull out of the singles today.

"I guess I've got a stomach virus," said the 27-year-old. "I got here and on Sunday night through Monday evening I was up for 24 hours vomiting, sweating, the whole deal.

"I played doubles yesterday but I felt I was late to the party on everything.

"I woke up this morning thinking I would be able to play, but after practice I felt I couldn't see the ball very well and I think if I can't focus on the tennis ball very well I can't compete."

Roddick, who has won titles in Miami and Brisbane this year, admits the timing could hardly have been worse with the French Open coming up later this month.

"It's very bad timing. I would've taken this virus any time in the last five weeks instead of now, but I guess that's the way it goes sometimes," he said.

Regarding his plans ahead of Roland Garros, the 2003 US Open winner and last year's Wimbledon runner-up said: "All this has just happened in the last hour and I don't know what's going to happen.

"It's going to be tough for me to predict what will happen.

"A lot of things depend on how long this thing lasts. This is obviously far from perfect heading into Paris, but you have to play the hand you're dealt. Playing well in Paris isn't totally out of the question."

Roddick had his best-ever French Open last year when he reached the fourth round.

Lopez will now face fellow Spaniard Oscar Hernandez, who lost to Christophe Rochus in the final qualifying round.