Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska survived a tortuous couple of hours in blistering heat and a determined opponent to maintain the superiority of seeded players on day two of the Australian Open in Melbourne.
Radwanska withstood the conditions to beat Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva 6-0 6-7 6-2 in the longest three-set ordeal of the day.
The world No.5 joins fellow seeds Victoria Azarenka, Jelena Jankovic and Caroline Wozniacki in the second round on a day where the aim was to get the job done as quickly as possible.
With the temperature above 40 degrees for most of the two hours and 20-minutes she was on court, the match became a battle of endurance in which Radwanska’s experience played a vital role.
“This is grand slam tennis …. fighting to the end and not giving up,” she said.
Azarenka, the two-time Australian Open champion and second seed, also spent more time on court than she would have liked, pulling back two breaks of serve to save the first set against Sweden’s Johanna Larsson before winning 7-6 (7-2) 6-2.
The defending champion praised the tenacity of her opponent for keeping her on court for an hour and three quarters, but said she hadn’t been too troubled by the heat.
“It’s not easy, those conditions, you can’t escape, it’s pretty hot out there,” Azarenka said.
“But I feel pretty good … I felt better as the match was going on than in the beginning.”
Wozniacki also felt – and saw – the severity of the weather during the 67 minutes it took her to beat Spain’s Lourdes Dominguez Lino 6-0 6-2.
The Dane said her water bottle began to melt when she put it on the court surface.
“I was glad to get off the court quickly, not too much time out there,” Wozniacki said.
Jankovic added to the dominance of the seeded women players with a 6-1 6-2 first-round win over Japan’s Misaki Doi.
Another who wasted as little time as possible in the sweltering heat was Romanian 11th seed Simona Halep who beat Katarzyna Piter of Poland 6-0 6-1 in 54 minutes while Spanish 16th seed Carla Suarez Navarro overcame the heat and American Vania King 6-3 6-2.
With the temperature topping 42 degrees before lunch and causing dozens of fans to seek treatment, the players survived admirably without roofs being closed or play halted.