Sabalenka, Zverev beat the heat to reach Australian Open semi-finals

MELBOURNE, Jan 27 : Aryna Sabalenka stayed cool under the blazing Melbourne sun to beat American teenager Iva Jovic and reach the Australian Open semi-finals on Tuesday while Alexander Zverev was briefly made to sweat under the Rod Laver Arena roof before going through.

Top seed Carlos Alcaraz will avoid the worst of the conditions on the hottest day of the year's opening Grand Slam when he plays in the evening session against Australian Alex de Minaur, after Coco Gauff meets Elina Svitolina for a last-four spot.

Sabalenka, chasing her third title in four years, produced a dominant display to see off her 18-year-old opponent 6-3 6-0 on a sweltering centre court, where the roof stayed open with the "Heat Stress Scale" not at its highest threshold.

Shortly after her victory, though, tournament organisers invoked the extreme heat policy as temperatures crossed the 40 Celsius (104F) mark, prompting the suspension of play on the outer courts and the closure of roofs on the main ones.

"It was hot out there. I guess as women, we are stronger than the guys, so they had to close the roof for the guys, so they don't suffer," Sabalenka joked after her 89-minute win.

"I knew going into this match that they won't let us play in crazy heat. If it would reach five (on the scale) they would close the roof, so I knew that they were protecting us, our health.

"Anyway, when we finished it was 4.4, so it was quite hot."

The four-times Grand Slam champion was less pleased with the Australian Open's ban on wearable fitness tracking devices after some players were told to remove them before matches.

LOWER ATTENDANCE

The temperature touched 45 Celsius at around 4.30 p.m. and fans were largely absent from the concourses across the usually buzzing venue.