Makarova beats the heat to surprise Ostapenko in sweltering Sydney

three years ago, rode an early break for a 5-3 lead and, even though her Latvian opponent got back to 5-5, raced away with the first set tiebreaker.

Third seed Ostapenko, who also lost her opening match in Shenzhen last week, put up a fierce fight at the start of the second set but faded after losing her first service game.

“It was my first match of the season, so of course I was nervous at the beginning,” said Makarova.

“But I tried to stay solid, to stay with my aggressive game, and it worked in the important moments.”

With temperatures in western Sydney well above the 40 C mark, some withdrawals might have been expected and local Ellen Perez progressed when France’s Kristina Mladenovic retired at 6-4, 4-2 down.

German seventh seed Julia Goerges also withdrew from the tournament citing a knee injury, having won the Auckland Classic earlier in the day.

Venus Williams, Garbine Muguruza and Johanna Konta, the reigning champion, are all also in a strong women’s field at Sydney’s Olympic Park.

In the men’s draw, twice former champion Viktor Troicki went out in the first round 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 7-5 at the hands of unorthodox Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov.