Rublev, Fritz into 2nd round; Garcia enjoying play again

Top 10 men's seeds Andrey Rublev and Taylor Fritz eased into the second round of the Australian Open as soaring temperatures brought play to a halt on the outside courts for three hours at Melbourne Park on Tuesday.

Rublev whipped through his first-round contest against Dominic Thiem 6-3 6-4 6-2 before the tournament's Extreme Heat Policy came into play as temperatures rose towards a forecast high of 36 degrees Celsius.

"It's super hot today so I'm super happy I was able to win in straight sets and save some energy for the next match," the fifth seed said.

"The hotter it is, the tougher it is to make the right decisions, the tougher to move. When you start to think the other guy is also feeling the same, it's a bit easier."

Fritz followed Rublev onto the John Cain Arena and, with closed roofs keeping play going on the three main showcourts, outlasted tricky Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-4 6-2 4-6 7-5.

The American eighth seed played a leading role in the United States winning the inaugural United Cup in Sydney and felt he was in a good place to make a deep run at the year's first Grand Slam.

"I don't want to put too many high expectations but I do expect a lot of myself," said the 25-year-old Californian, who next faces Tseng Chunhsin or local Alexei Popyrin.

"I'm in a really good spot right now, I've been playing really well, I've had a great start to the year and I'm looking to have a really big week."

Extreme heat

Women's seeds Aryna Sabalenka and Caroline Garcia enjoyed the relative cool of the earlier part of the day on Rod Laver Arena in their opening matches.

Fifth seed Sabalenka, who opened the year by winning the Adelaide title without losing a set, kept up her fine form with an emphatic 6-1 6-4 victory over Tereza Martincova.

Fourth seed Garcia, who won the WTA Finals last season, was equally convincing with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Canadian qualifier Katherine Sebov in just over an hour.

The French woman will next face another Canadian in 2021 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez, who came from an early break-down to beat Alize Cornet 7-5 6-2 for her first win in the main draw at Melbourne Park.

Garcia declared she was enjoying tennis again after a tough couple of years when injuries caused her form to desert her.

Ranked four in September 2021, she lost in the first round at Melbourne Park a year ago to drop outside the top 70.

But she stormed back into form later in 2022, winning titles on all three surfaces, including the season-ending WTA Tour Finals in Fort Worth to soar up the rankings.

"We always say things can change very quickly," Garcia said. "A couple of years were very tough and I had to deal with a lot of injuries."

She credited her backroom team for her stunning return to elite company.

"It's tough. But I got a good team behind me who really helped me to get healthy again and to enjoy what I was doing on court. The support was really important.

"I enjoyed playing tennis again. I was, like, I want to go forward, I want to make winners," said Garcia, who started her season by winning all three of her matches for France at the United Cup and then reached the quarter-finals in Adelaide.

"It's the best way to play tennis. So I'm trying to keep going that way."

In other matches that escaped the heat shutdown, Italian 21st seed Martina Trevisan went down 6-3 6-2 to qualifier Anna Karolina Schmiedlova and twice Grand Slam finalist Karolina Pliskova beat Wang Xiyu 6-1 6-3.

Men's 26th seed Miomir Kecmanovic also lost to a qualifier, beaten 6-3 6-4 7-6(3) by Nicolas Jarry in a match on Court Six concluded after play resumed.

Agencies