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5 days ago
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On John Cain Arena, the 40-year-old Stan Wawrinka has just taken the second set against Taylor Fritz (9). It’s 6-7(7), 6-2 over there.
Scheduled after Djokovic on Rod Laver Arena is Naomi Osaka (16) v Maddison Inglis. Osaka has been in the news.
Jack Snape
The Australian Open issued a statement on social media at 2.36pm local time.
“The AO Heat Stress Scale is above 5.0,” it said. “Play is suspended for all matches and practice on outside courts. The roofs on RLA [Rod Laver Arena], MCA [Margaret Court Arena] and JCA [John Cain Arena] will close and remain closed for the remainder of the match.
“If onsite, please seek shade and apply cooling strategies.”
Preamble
Novak Djokovic made short work of his opponents in rounds one and two: Pedro Martínez and then Francesco Maestrelli were dismissed in straight sets, with identical scorelines: 6-3, 6-2, 6-2. The Serbian would certainly take the same today against the dangerous world No 75 Botic van de Zandschulp, who beat him at Indian Wells last year, and has taken out Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal in the past couple of seasons.
Iga Swiatek, meanwhile, is yet to drop a set herself, although she had to win a first-round tiebreak against Yuan Yue on Monday, eventually coming through 7-5, 6-3. Marie Bouzkova was safely dispatched in the second round on Thursday, 6-2, 6-3, and today the Polish second seed will need to raise her game against Anna Kalinskaya of Russia, seeded 31.
There’s other tennis happening too, of course, and the breaking news is that organisers have been obliged to suspend play today with temperatures creeping towards 40C:
