Caroline Wozniacki has been forced to withdraw from the Dubai Tennis Championships due to a viral illness.

World number 14 Wozniacki pulled out of last week's Qatar Open due to the issue and has been unable to recover in time to compete in the United Arab Emirates.

The Dane was initially scheduled to face Sam Stosur in the first round on Monday, but the 2011 US Open champion was replaced by lucky loser Stefanie Voegele due to personal reasons.

Voegele will now take on another lucky loser in Polona Hercog.

"I'm just trying to recover after taking a few days off in bed, drinking some tea and feeling better for sure," said Wozniacki at the draw ceremony on Saturday.

She has not returned to the court since suffering a third-round loss to Maria Sharapova at the Australian Open in January.

After announcing her withdrawal, Wozniacki explained she has been feeling unwell since Christmas, despite her condition improving after the Australian Open.

"It hasn't been the greatest start, the start that I'd hope for," said Wozniacki. "I picked something up at Christmas at home and it was lingering a bit all the way through Australia and after that I felt good for a couple of weeks. Then I came to Doha and then the day of my match I woke up and I felt terrible."

"It's just one of those things, you can't do anything about it. I just have to stay positive and try to do everything in my power to get better. Indian Wells and Miami is right around the corner, but thankfully not right around the corner. Hoping to be 100 per cent for both of those."

"When you have RA [rheumatoid arthritis], my immune system is not working on as high of a level as normal so it's taking me longer to get over stuff like this."