A day after the smoke haze covering Melbourne wreaked having on Australian Open qualifying, tournament organisers have again delayed the start of practise sessions and qualifying matches.
On Tuesday, Melbourne's air quality was officially deemed "hazardous" and was ranked amoung the worst in the world. Practise and qualifying was delayed by an hour, but it didn't help, with Slovenian player Dalila Jakupovic collapsing during her first round qualifying match against Stefanie Voegele.
Jakupovic was forced to abandon the match, later saying she was scared for her health.
Fellow qualifying hopeful, American Noah Rubin, also vented his anger, telling Sporting News that he didn't think Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic would be forced to play in those kinds of conditions.
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Rubin, who is scheduled to play his first qualifying match on Wednesday afternoon, also criticised the lack of communication between organisers and the players.
At the Kooyong Open in Melbourne yesterday, Maria Sharapova and Laure Seigemund agreed to abandon their match at 5-5 in the second set. Sharapova said she could feel a cough coming on.
On Wednesday, the Australian Open announced that practise had been suspended until 11am, while qualifying matches won't begin until 1pm.
"Conditions at Melbourne Park are being constantly monitored and further decisions will be made using onsite data and in close consultation with our medical team, BOM and scientists from EPA Victoria," the Aus Open twitter account tweeted.
"The onsite data and measurements early this morning were similar to yesterday, when #AusOpen practice and play were suspended and delayed.
"Conditions yesterday were forecast to improve throughout the day, which is what occured."
The delays come after a number of players spoke out about being forced to play or practice in poor conditions.
Why do we need to wait for something bad to happen to do an action 🤷🏼♀️🥵 #Melbourne pic.twitter.com/bYpXyQAfKe
— Elina Svitolina (@ElinaSvitolina) January 14, 2020
Saying everybody to stay inside and keep the schedule !? Very Well done!!! #hopesheisfine... pic.twitter.com/hzDFB8DYgZ
— steve darcis (@stevedarcishark) January 14, 2020
The first round of qualifying on Tuesday offered a mixed bag for the Australian contingent.
Destanee Aiava, Max Purcell, Aleksander Vukic, Blake Mott, Belinda Woolcock, Maddison Inglis and Luke Saville all earned passage through to the second round.
Inglis, who played Russia's Rebecca Sramkova, had one of the wildest matches of the day, walking away with a 6-3 0-6 19-17 victory.
On the other side of the ledger, Bernard Tomic, Ivana Popvic, Ellen Perez, Abbie Myers, Tristan Schoolkate, Olivia Tjandramulia, Matt Ebden, Jason Kubler and Harry Bourchier all came up short.
Tomic was later criticised for a perceived lack of effort in his two-set loss to Denis Kudler.