CARLOS ALCARAZ survived a major scare in his Wimbledon opener while Aryna Sabalenka kept her cool to cruise into the second round on the hottest opening day in the tournament’s history.
Temperatures at the All England Club on Monday topped 32 degrees Celsius (89.6 Fahrenheit), surpassing the previous record for the start of the tournament of 29.3 Celsius set in 2001.
Alcaraz ignored the sweltering conditions, digging dip for a 7-5, 6-7 (5/7), 7-5, 2-6, 6-1 win over 38-year-old Fabio Fognini in a gruelling clash lasting four hours and 37 minutes on Centre Court.
It was first time since Roger Federer narrowly beat Alejandro Falla in 2010 that a defending champion had been taken to a fifth set in the Wimbledon first round.
Alcaraz shrugged off an inconsistent display including 62 unforced errors as the world number two refused to wilt in the heat.
“I don’t know why it is probably Fabio’s last Wimbledon because the level he has shown shows he can still play for three or four more years,“ said the Spaniard.
“Playing on Centre Court for the first match of any tournament is never easy. Wimbledon is special and different. I just tried to play my best but I would say that I could play better.”
During the match the 22-year-old rushed to help a spectator who had collapsed in the stands, handing over a bottle of water as medics came to the woman’s aid.
Alcaraz, who has never lost in a Grand Slam first round in 18 appearances, faces British qualifier Oliver Tarvet in the second round.
The five-time Grand Slam champion is bidding to become the fifth man in the Open Era to win at least three consecutive Wimbledon titles after Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer and seven-time champion Djokovic.
With players and fans searching for shade from the London heatwave, former England captain David Beckham watched the action from the royal box, alongside ex-England manager Gareth Southgate.
Top seed Sabalenka used ice packs to beat the heat during her 6-1, 7-5 victory over Canadian qualifier Carson Branstine on Court One.
The 27-year-old Belarusian is a three-time Grand Slam champion but suffered agonising three-set defeats in this year’s Australian Open and French Open finals.
The world number one has never been beyond the Wimbledon semi-finals and missed last year’s tournament with a shoulder injury.
“I felt really great. Super grateful to be healthy and ready to compete and to be through the first round,“ said Sabalenka, who next faces Czech world number 48 Marie Bouzkova.
– Mercury soars –
Two-time Wimbledon finalist Ons Jabeur broke down in tears before retiring from her first-round match against Viktoriya Tomova.
Tunisia’s Jabeur was trailing 7-6 (7/5), 2-0 when she brought a premature end to her clash with the Bulgarian world number 111.
The 30-year-old, beaten in the 2022 and 2023 Wimbledon finals, wiped away tears after losing a long fifth game in the first set and took a lengthy medical timeout.
Wimbledon has a heat rule to safeguard the health of the players.
The rule allows a 10-minute break to be taken between the second and third sets for women’s matches and between the third and fourth sets for men’s matches, when the heat stress index is at or above 30.1 degrees Celsius.
“The obvious point to make is that the athletes compete in temperatures like this all year on the tour so for us Brits here at the championships it feels very hot,“ said Wimbledon chief executive Sally Bolton.
Former US Open champion Daniil Medvedev, a Wimbledon semi-finalist for the past two years, suffered a meltdown against France’s Benjamin Bonzi.
Bonzi won 7-6 (7/2), 3-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 in three hours and seven minutes, with the fuming Russian smashing his racquet against his chair at the end of the match.
Elsewhere, former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko was beaten 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 by Britain’s Sonay Kartal.
Danish eighth seed Holger Rune lost 4-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 to Chilean world number 143 Nicolas Jarry.
Australian Open champion Madison Keys fought back to beat Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-7, (4/7), 7-5, 7-5.
Former US Open champion Emma Raducanu defeated fellow Briton Mini Xu 6-3, 6-3 to book a second-round date with 2023 Wimbledon winner Marketa Vondrousova.
