Sabalenka cruises on Wimbledon’s hottest opening day as Alcaraz launches title bid
Aryna Sabalenka kept her cool to cruise into the Wimbledon second round on the hottest opening day in the history of the championships as Carlos Alcaraz prepared to launch his bid for a third successive title.
The BBC said temperatures at the All England Club had reached 31.4 degrees Celsius (88.5 degrees Fahrenheit) by 1500 GMT, surpassing the previous record for the start of the tournament of 29.3 Celsius set in 2001.
Top seed Sabalenka used ice packs to beat the heat during her 6-1, 7-5 victory over Canadian qualifier Carson Branstine on sweltering 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.
Sabalenka 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 the world number one, who next faces New Zealand’s Lulu Sun or Czech player Marie Bouzkova.
“It was really good for me to have this little fight in the second set just to see where my level is at.”
With players and fans searching for shade from the London heatwave, Alcaraz was in the spotlight as the Spaniard looked to maintain his red-hot form in the opening match on Centre Court against 38-year-old Italian Fabio Fognini.
Former England captain David Beckham watched the action from the royal box, alongside ex-England manager Gareth Southgate.
Having vanquished seven-time champion Novak Djokovic in the past two Wimbledon finals, Alcaraz is looking to join an elite group at the All England Club.
The French Open 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 Djokovic.
