Vanquished Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci has called for a twilight start to the Australian Open on days when heatwave conditions make it “impossible” for players to perform at their peak.

Open officials on Thursday applied the extreme heat policy for the first time this week at Melbourne Park as temperatures soared above 40 degrees for the third day in a row.

But its implementation was of no use to Bellucci, who was forced to play on – albeit under a closed roof at Hisense Arena – after dropping the first set against French 10th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Bellucci, a qualifier who’d already played four matches before his third-round encounter with Tsonga, eventually departed, physically spent, with a 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 6-4 loss.

“Every point I was thinking to give up,” he said.

“But anyway I was fighting to at least end the match.

“When I lost the first set, it was very hard for me to win three more sets so I was just playing because I didn’t want to retire.

“I was very tired and it was impossible to beat him in four or five sets.”

Asked if he thought the heatwave conditions made it too dangerous to play, Bellucci said it was “too much” to say someone could die.

“But I think for the players, we already play a lot of tournaments and a lot of matches and to play in these conditions I think is not fair for the players,” he said.

“I think we should start later, like five or six o’clock, and then that should be better for the players and the crowd.”

At the very least, Bellucci felt the roof should have been closed before the start of play, given the forecast of 44 degrees in Melbourne on Thursday.

Tournament referee Wayne McKewen opted to enforce the extreme heat rule just before 2pm.

The ruling meant any matches already underway would be suspended at the conclusion of the set and that no scheduled matches on outside courts could start until conditions improved.

Women’s third seed Maria Sharapova and unseeded Italian Karin Knapp slugged it out for almost three-and-a-half hours at Rod Laver Arena, with the roof open for the entirety.

“I think you just get numb to (the heat), it just doesn’t faze you any more,” Sharapova said clinching a 6-3 4-6 10-8 second-round victory.

“I’m happy. These are the matches that you work for.”

The Russian superstar’s only gripe was that the roof wasn’t closed before the start of the deciding set because they don’t feature tiebreakers at the Australian Open and could last forever – or one hour and 50 minutes, as hers did on Thursday.