Former world No.1 Maria Sharapova has struggled in the heat and smoke in Melbourne with her Kooyong Classic match called off late in the second set.

Taking on German Laura Siegemund in the Australian Open warm-up tournament, the players and officials decided to stop play at 5-5 in the second set..

World No.72 Siegemund had won the first set 7-6 (7-4).

The umpire said the conditions were behind the call to stop play after almost two and a half hours.

“Both players are feeling the smoke so we are going to stop the match at this point,” the umpire announced.

Despite the decision, Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov and Croatian Borna Coric began to warm up for their Kooyong match.