Heat is on in early rounds
NEW YORK • Players scrambled for relief from the heat and some retired from their matches when they couldn’t find it during an overheated second day of the U.S. Open.
Women were allowed to leave the court for 10 minutes between the second and third sets, while men were allowed to take similar breaks between the third and fourth sets.
Temperatures were in excess of 38 C.
In women’s play, Eugenie Bouchard, of Westmount, Que., swept past France’s Harmony Tan in straight sets with a 6-3, 6-1 win.
She faces Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic in the second round.
On the men’s side, Toronto’s Peter Polansky was overpowered by No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev, 6-2, 6-1, 6-2.
Women’s winners on the day included No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki, who ousted 2011 champ Sam Stosur, No. 5 Petra Kvitova and No. 10 Jelena Ostapenko, while the men’s winners included No. 6 Novak Djokovic, No. 7 Marin Cilic and No. 26 Richard Gasquet.
Less than 24 hours after a heartbreaking end to his main draw debut at a Grand Slam, Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime is focused on his next tournament instead of the heart palpitations that forced him to retire from his first-round match.
Bernard Duchesneau, the agent for the 18-year-old, said Tuesday Auger-Aliassime was “feeling fine” within an hour of retiring in the third set of his Monday match against fellow Canadian Denis Shapovalov.
“He’s fine today. A couple hours after (Monday’s match) he was smiling and joking,” Duchesneau said.
Trailing 2-0 in the third set, Auger-Aliassime was seen grimacing and clutching his chest before asking for a medical time out. A doctor examined him on the court and tried to decrease Auger-Aliassime’s heart rate by dumping a bottle of cold water over his head.
Duchesneau said the cause was the heat and humidity in New York.