Stars struggle as heat stops play at Sydney International

THE heatwave has claimed its first scalp at the Sydney International after fifth seed Kristina Mladenovic retired during her match against Australian wildcard Ellen Perez.

Kristina Mladenovic succumbs to the heat at the Sydney International.

THE heatwave has claimed its first scalp at the Sydney International after fifth seed Kristina Mladenovic retired during her match against Australian wildcard Ellen Perez.

With temperatures around 40 degrees, Mladenovic was down 6-4 4-2 on Ken Rosewall Arena on Sunday when the world No. 11 handed Perez a win at just her second WTA tournament.

The world No. 343 progresses to the second round where she is likely to face Australian No. 1 Ashleigh Barty, who opens her campaign against qualifier Veronica Cepede Royg on Monday.

Kristina Mladenovic succumbs to the heat at the Sydney International.

Kristina Mladenovic walks from the court after retiring early from her match against Ellen Perez.

Kristina Mladenovic retires early from her match against Ellen Perez.

Earlier, Sydney International tennis tournament officials stopped play on the opening day due to extreme heat.

The mercury reached 40 degrees at 10am when ATP and WTA tour organisers, who will monitor temperatures hourly, opted to send players back to the locker rooms.

Third seed and world No. 7 Jelena Ostapenko is slated to open her campaign against Ekaterina Makarova on Ken Rosewell Arena later on Sunday afternoon.

Heatwave update: world No.11 Kristina Mladenovic retired midway through her @SydneyTennis match due to heat stress. 3 courtside photographers' cameras shut down, takes 55 degree temps to do that. Outside temp recorded earlier was 44.5

— Jamie Pandaram (@JamiePandaram) January 7, 2018

Ellen Perez is through to the second round of the Sydney International.

Originally published as Stars struggle as heat stops play at Sydney International