Sabalenka sizzles as Wimbledon opens in heat

ARYNA Sabalenka kept her cool to cruise into the Wimbledon second round on the hottest opening day in the history of the Championships, while South Africa's Lloyd Harris progressed to the next round.

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The BBC reported that temperatures at the All England Club reached 31.4°C by 4pm on Monday, surpassing the previous opening-day record of 29.3°C 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 a sweltering Court One. The 26-year-old Belarusian is a three-time Grand Slam champion but suffered agonising three-set defeats in both this year's Australian Open and French Open finals.

Sabalenka has never gone beyond the semi-finals at Wimbledon and missed last year's tournament due to 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 No 1. "It was really good for me to have this little fight in the second set, just to see where my level is at."