Seeds melt away in ‘brutal’ Aussie furnace
Bouchard also dispatched at Melbourne Park
MELBOURNE Stan Wawrinka left it as late as possible before deciding his knee might just be good enough to get him through the Australian Open, site of his Grand Slam breakthrough.
The 2014 champion clearly wasn’t fit enough against No. 97-ranked Tennys Sandgren, though, and made his earliest exit in a decade — 2-6, 1-6, 4-6 in the second round.
After a searing day at Melbourne Park when the temperature hit 40 C — and tempers were tested — No. 9 Wawrinka was one of three seeded players to fall in the men’s draw.
Wimbledon champion and No. 3-ranked Garbine Muguruza was one of five seeded players to lose in the women’s side on Day 4.
Six-time champion Novak Djokovic survived the round, but complained of the “brutal” heat in a four-set win over an ailing Gael Monfils that extended his headto-head record to 15-0 over their careers.
Djokovic is playing his first tournament since Wimbledon and has remodelled his serve to take some of the load off his injured right elbow.
Muguruza also struggled with her fitness in the buildup to the Australian Open, retiring from a game at the Brisbane International because of cramping and withdrawing ahead of the Sydney International quarter-finals because of a thigh problem.
That left only Maria Sharapova, Angelique Kerber and French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko as Grand Slam winners in the women’s draw.
Sharapova and Kerber meet in the third round, meaning only one of the remaining Australian Open winners can reach the second week.
Still aiming for a first major, topranked Simona Halep, a two-time French Open finalist, dispatched Montreal’s Eugenie Bouchard 6-2, 6-2. Halep next plays Lauren Davis.
Halep gained some revenge from the only other time the pair met in a Grand Slam tournament.
At Wimbledon in 2014, Bouchard beat Halep in the semifinals.
Her strong run early that year — semifinals at the Australian and French opens before Wimbledon — helped propel Bouchard to No. 5 in the rankings. She is now ranked 112th.
The heat peaked during Djokovic’s 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 win over Monfils. Both players slouched over in the shade between points, earning warnings about time delays from the chair umpire.
The win was a relief for Djokovic, who lost in a second-round shocker here last year, but he said officials need to be more considerate about the players in the conditions.
“It was obvious we both suffered on the court today,” Djokovic said. “Really tough conditions — brutal.”
Scorching temperatures are common at the Australian Open, so much so the tournament has an extreme heat policy that allows for the referee to close the roofs on the three main show courts and suspend play on the outer courts when temperatures surpass 40 C. Matches weren’t halted Thursday.