Carlos Alcaraz v Alex de Minaur, Alexander Zverev v Learner Tien, Aryna Sabalenka v Iva Jovic, Coco Gauff v Elina Svitolina, day 10 scores, schedule, draw, times, how to watch

The women’s world No.1 played her first match at Rod Laver Arena with the roof open, the mercury soaring, the wet bulb drying and the crowds fading.

If her straight sets victory had continued in the third set (she beat Iva Jovic 6-3, 6-0) the roof would have been closed and the players would have been given an extra break. There was no need for such an intervention anyway.

Sabalenka said of the conditions: “At the end of the match it was really hot outside.”

“I’m glad they covered the roof almost halfway so we had plenty of shade out back so we could turn around and stay in the shade.

“But it was hot outside. I guess yeah, as women we are stronger than men, so they had to close the roof on the men so they wouldn’t suffer, you know (laughter).”

The two-time Australian Open champion knew the roof would be closed if the match went on any longer; just like at the start of the next Zverev-Tien match at the Rod Laver Arena, as the air temperature exceeded 40 degrees.

“Going into this match, I knew they wouldn’t let us play in extreme heat. If it reached 5, they would definitely close the roof, so I knew they were protecting us, our health.”

“When we finished the temperature was 4.4, so it was pretty hot. That’s okay. I’m happy I made it.”

For the uninitiated, the Australian Open operates on a heat stress scale that measures air temperature, radiant heat (the power of the sun), humidity and wind speed.

They are combined to return a rating from one to five; The game may come to a halt when an even number of games is reached at five.