As the temperature rose above 40 degrees Celcius at Melbourne Park it was a case of survival of the fittest at the junior Australian Open on Wednesday.France’s Kristina Mladenovic was delighted to get past Victoria Kamenskaya of Russia 46 61 62 but she admitted afterwards that the conditions were brutal in the Australian summer sun. “I have never felt anything like that before. Today there was no wind. It was so hot. It was like being in an oven,” said Mladenovic.“It was very tough match conditions. The worst it could be. It was very, very difficult and very hot. After the first set I said to myself ‘Oh my Goodness, how can I win this match because it is so hot’, then she left to go to the locker room and I breathed a little bit and I told myself to come on and try to do everything I could just to win the first few games. I did that so I just push the ball in the court and told myself that she would be tired also. It was just unbelievable.”

Resilience appeared to be the most valuable quality for all those who managed to win through to the quarterfinals. In Mladenovic’s case, she did not even have the benefit of a break between second and third sets because she played before the Australian Open’s Extreme Heat Policy had been implemented. By 3pm all junior matches had been cancelled because tournament referees decreed that it was simply not safe to play in the sweltering temperatures but play had been stopped long before that. “The only thing is that you have to tell yourself to never give up because it’s hot for both players and when you play at that moment you know that tennis is not the most important thing, because you just have to fight with yourself and try to keep going,” said Mladenovic.

Poor old Heather Watson of Great Britain and her Japanese opponent Miyabi Inoue narrowly missed out on having their matches stopped because the third set of their match had already started when the Extreme Heat Policy was activated, leaving them no option but to play on and brave the punishing conditions. For the second half of the third set, theirs was the only match being played at Melbourne Park.

“I think because we’d started our match we had to finish it. I guess it’s my fault for allowing the match to go on so long! It was just so hot. I’d have a cold drink and leave it by my chair at the change of ends and by the time I’d come back to it the water would be boiling,” said Watson, who found a way to win 76 46 64 but needed treatment after the match for overheating. “Thank goodness I came out on top. I’ve never played in such high temperatures. Straight after the match I stretched, I cooled off in the shower and then I went to an ice bath and then I had a massage and that made me feel ten times better. Even just in the second set I felt very dizzy and at one point I could see black in front of my eyes. I just had to tough it out. I was never going to give up because I really wanted to win that match. My feet were so hot. They were starting to hurt a bit.”

Watson did at least benefit from a ten minute break between sets and afterwards admitted that she had desperately needed to return to the locker room to cool down. “Thank goodness for that ten minute heat rule because it gave me a chance to cool off. I drank lots and I went in and out of a cold shower. Winning this match taught me that I can fight to the end. It helps to know that. It feels great that I gave it everything and I came out on top,” she said.

Watson was joined the quarter-finals by fifth seeded compatriot Laura Robson, who beat Silvia Njiric of Croatia 64 62. “It’s fun to have Laura there too,” said Watson. “We get along really well and we are trying the best that we can to be top in the world and push each other on. She did great today as well and hopefully we can keep it going.”

The biggest casualty in the girls’ competition was eighth seed Lauren Embree of the USA. She was beaten 62 64 by Anna Orlik of Belarus. In the boys’ tournament, sixth seeded Australian James Duckworth was upset when he lost 64 64 to Alexandros-Fernandos Georgoudas of Germany.