Paris: There were seats for the taking on the show courts — Philippe-Chatrier, Suzanne-Lenglen and Simone-Mathieu — but not a patch of shade across the 34 acres of Roland Garros lay unoccupied on Wednesday, another 30-plus Celsius day at the French Open amid an unprecedented heat wave.Around the grounds, matches swung wildly and sets ran lopsided as players struggled with energy and concentration. For spectators, though, it was a different kind of endurance test. Hats, sunglasses and paper fans were out in force, as were glasses in hand — beer, wine or water — while they braved conditions through daylight that stretched, like the Seine, almost until 10 pm.It was the kind of day that carried the feel of an upset.For the most part, the fancied players held their ground, but second seed Elena Rybakina crashed out of the women’s draw.The 26-year-old Australian Open champion, who appeared to be troubled by the heat and conditions, went down 6-3, 1-6, 6-7 (4-10) to the inspired Ukrainian Yulia Starodubtseva. Rybakina, who lost nine of the last 10 games after taking the first set, was barely moving through the second and the early stages of the decider, where she fell behind 0-3.“I won’t say that physically I felt really bad. There were matches when I felt worse,” Rybakina said. “Definitely the energy was not there. I just couldn’t find the right balance on the ball. It was very slippery. In some moments I was just putting my legs, but it was everything out of rhythm. It’s tough to say. On the practices it was not as bad.”The afternoon, however, belonged to the Ukrainian. “Honestly hard to describe. I’m super happy,” the 26-year-old Starodubtseva said. “Elena is one of the top players. She’s had an incredible year. I’m super proud of myself that I was able to do this today. It was a hard third set, but I got it done.”Four-time French Open champion Iga Swiatek, who beat Czech Sara Bejlek 6-2, 6-3 to advance to the third round, said the conditions took some getting used to. The Pole, who turns 25 on Sunday, said: “Sometimes I made some mistakes while playing high balls, because the ball was jumping quite high. It was not easy to judge if it’s the one you should go for or stay back and wait for the next one.”Poland’s Magda Linette did Swiatek a favour by knocking out her nemesis Jelena Ostapenko, setting up a third-round meeting with her third-seeded compatriot.Earlier on Lenglen, 13th seed Karen Khachanov looked stretched to the limit, but the 6 ft 6 in Russian held on for nearly four hours to script a 7-6, 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (4) win over Marco Trungelliti, who at 36 is the oldest man to debut in the top 100 in the Open Era.“It’s the warmest May in Paris in a long time,” the 30-year-old Russian said. “For players’ matches become more physical, mentally you have to be strong, that’s the dynamic of the match. Sometimes players have drops in terms of energy and concentration, that’s why it’s extremely important to hydrate and use ice towels. The conditions are also much faster, the ball is bouncing higher.”Eleventh seed Andrey Rublev walked on court intent on keeping things quick against Argentina’s Camilo Ugo Carabelli, who made it a point to put every ball back in play, dragging Rublev back and forth.“I knew that if I want to win, I will need to be the one who dictates,” he said after the 6-1, 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3) win. “The moments like when I was a bit relaxing or I was tight, he was straightaway taking advantage. When I was able to be more focused, going for the shot, I was having the opportunities.”
