Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova overcame furnace-like conditions to reach the Australian Open semifinals as sizzling temperatures forced play indoors to help men’s fourth seed Marat Safin into the last four on Tuesday.
Florida-based former world number one Williams revelled in blistering conditions to overwhelm French second seed Amelie Mauresmo 6-2, 6-2 on a sun-baked centre court, sealing victory with an ace.
But Siberia-born Russian fourth seed Sharapova found the sweltering conditions much harder to deal with before prevailing 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 against compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Sharapova’s match was halted for 10 minutes after the second set as the sun beat down on Melbourne Park. Tournament officials later suspended play as the temperature passed 35 degrees Celsius.
The decision prompted officials to close the retractable roof of the Rod Laver Arena centre court for the subsequent men’s quarterfinal between Russia’s Marat Safin and Slovakia’s 20th seed Dominik Hrbaty.
The ruling worked in Safin’s favour — he routed Hrbaty 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 — and later revealed that his opponent had wanted the roof to stay open.
”Dominik wanted to play outdoors,” said Safin. ”Playing inside helped me a lot. When then they said they were going to close the roof, I said, ‘Yes! That’s my chance.”’
In the semifinals, Safin will play the winner of the eagerly anticipated quarterfinal between world number one Roger Federer and four-time champion Andre Agassi, who play later on Tuesday.
The decision to close the roof came too late for the two women’s quarterfinals played on Tuesday, which got under way in roasting sunshine.
Wimbledon champion Sharapova said she had struggled to cope with the heat.
”I need a wheelchair right now,” she said after completing an energy-sapping victory in two hours and 17 minutes.
The 17-year-old starlet admitted she had been struggling from the outset.
”I was just trying to tell myself mentally just to get through it,” she said. ”I kept thinking back in my off-season, you know, how hard it was when I was training physically, and I thought I couldn’t go any more, but I knew that I had some more even though my body thought I didn’t.
”I remember those moments, and I just kept fighting, just trying to take as much time as I can and fight.”
Kuznetsova admitted the temperatures had made conditions hard but she put the defeat down to a mental collapse that saw her game fall to pieces in the second and third sets.
”I was very focused and I played very well in the first set,” Kuznetsova said. ”And after that something happened, so I just stopped. I mean, I just stopped playing. My body was there, but my mind wasn’t there at all.
”I can’t blame the heat as an excuse. It’s a lie. I think I was coping with it better than Maria, I felt okay.”
But while Sharapova and Kuznetsova looked drained after their tie, seventh-seed Williams — the 2003 champion — appeared fresher than ever after romping past Mauresmo in one hour and 11 minutes.
”I feel great,” said Williams, used to playing and training in the heat and humidity of Florida. ”I played a really solid match. I’m used to making about 40 errors but today I made a lot less.
”It was extremely hot out there. Was that the hottest I’ve been? Maybe. It was definitely one of the hottest. To me it doesn’t matter. If they’d closed the roof I would have been okay, but if they kept it open, I was fine too.” — Sapa-AFP