Sabalenka, Zverev beat the heat to reach Australian Open semi-finals as organisers suspend matches

Temperatures in parts of Melbourne, the capital city of Australia’s second-most populous state of Victoria, exceeded 45°C. Towns in Victoria’s northwest Mallee region reached a high of 48.9°C, breaking the state record, according to preliminary data from Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology.

At the Australian Open in central Melbourne, the year’s first Grand Slam, play was halted on the outside courts due to the heat.

Organisers said roof closures would follow its extreme heat condition protocols. Wheelchair matches have been postponed to Wednesday, 28 January.

Women’s No 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka stayed cool under the blazing Melbourne sun to beat American teenager Iva Jovic and reach the Australian Open semi-finals on Tuesday, while Alexander Zverev was briefly made to sweat under the Rod Laver Arena roof before going through.

Sabalenka, chasing her third title in four years, produced a dominant display to see off her 18-year-old opponent 6-3 6-0 on a sweltering centre court, where the roof stayed open with the “Heat Stress Scale” not at its highest threshold.

Shortly after her victory, though, tournament organisers invoked the extreme heat policy as temperatures crossed the 40°C mark, prompting the suspension of play on the outer courts and the closure of roofs on the main ones.

“It was hot out there. I guess as women, we are stronger than the guys, so they had to close the roof for the guys, so they don’t suffer,” Sabalenka joked after her 89-minute win.

“I knew going into this match that they won’t let us play in crazy heat. If it would reach five (on the scale) they would close the roof, so I knew that they were protecting us, our health.

“Anyway, when we finished it was 4.4, so it was quite hot.”

The four-time Grand Slam champion was less pleased with the Australian Open’s ban on wearable fitness tracking devices after some players were told to remove them before matches.

Lower attendance

The temperature touched 45°C at about 4.30pm local time and fans were largely absent from the concourses across the usually buzzing venue. The day session attendance was 21,226, less than half of Monday’s 50,010 for the corresponding session.

While the decision to close the roof made conditions easier for the players, Zverev was unable to get into his comfort zone against Learner Tien, losing the second set to the American and being taken to a tiebreak in the fourth.

Despite being tested, Zverev said he was confident he could get past Tien in what he described as perfect conditions.

“It’s a very solid 24 degrees with the AC on,” he said. “It’s great. I would love to play with the roof every single match, so it was not difficult. It was difficult physically, but it was not difficult with the conditions.”

The German third seed, runner-up to Jannik Sinner last year, secured a 6-3 6-7(5) 6-1 7-6(3) victory to stay on course for a first Grand Slam trophy, with a potential meeting with Alcaraz up next.

Australia’s Alex de Minaur will try to ensure it is his name in the semi-finals instead of the Spaniard’s, as the home favourite continues his quest to become the first man from Australia to lift the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup since Mark Edmondson’s triumph exactly five decades ago.

Other areas

The heatwave – the worst since the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires that killed 173 people in Victoria – raised the fire danger in some parts of the state to extreme.

Many communities are still recovering from large bushfires at the start of the month, also triggered by a severe heatwave.

Chris Hardman, the chief fire officer of Forest Fire Management Victoria, said six major fires were burning, with three out of control. He said a fast-moving blaze in the Otways region was of most concern to firefighters, burning about 10,000 hectares and destroying at least three properties.

“Firefighters did an incredible amount of work to try to contain that fire overnight... but as the warmer weather and the inversion broke, some gusty winds came down and that fireground has spotted outside of its original containment lines,” he told a news conference.

Hardman warned that strong winds of up to 70km/h that were forecast in the evening could further spread the blaze, threatening homes.

“We will get strong south-southwesterly wind change,” he said. “That fire will run, it will develop a plume, it will pick up really significant energy and we will see erratic and extreme fire behaviour.”

Emergency services have contacted about 1,100 homes and sent text messages to around 10,000 phones urging residents to leave the region, Hardman said.

Total fire bans were declared across Victoria as officials tried to lower the risk of new fires.

In inland Victoria, temperatures in some rural towns broke local records. Hopetoun Airport and Walpeup in the Mallee region, about 477km northwest of Melbourne, both reached 48.9°C, the highest temperature ever recorded in the state.

Nathan Grayling, a butcher in the town of Ouyen, told ABC Radio that he would try to keep his business as dark and cool as possible, with most residents expected to stay indoors.

“If we get everything done, we might knock off early and go down the local pub for a beer,” Grayling said. Reuters/DM