Player helps ball girl after collapse at Australian Open

Turkey's Zeynep Sonmez rushed to help a ball girl who fainted during the qualifier's surprise first-round victory over Ekaterina Alexandrova at the Australian Open.

As Alexandrova was serving for the second set to level the tie, the ball girl - stood beside the umpire's chair - fell flat on her back before quickly getting back up.

Sonmez sprinted over to her and helped her walk over to the side of the court, where she received medical attention in the shade.

The ball girl managed to get back to her feet and was helped off court by medical staff, with play resuming after a six-minute delay.

Russian 11th seed Alexandrova went on to win the set, but world number 112 Sonmez fought back from 3-0 down in the decider to complete a 7-5 4-6 6-4 upset on her fourth match point.

It is the biggest win of the 23-year-old's career and moves her into the second round at Melbourne Park for the first time.

Tennis Australia confirmed to BBC Sport that the girl had received medical attention on site before going home.

Temperatures reached highs of 28C on Sunday at Melbourne Park as the first major of the year got under way, while the mercury is forecast to reach 35C by Saturday, 24 January.

The Australian Open updated its extreme heat policy (EHP) in 2019 after conducting research into the effects of heat stress on tennis players.

This research led to the development of the heat stress scale (HSS), which is used to decide when the conditions get too challenging, and when players' health could be at risk.

The HSS, which reaches 5, registered a reading of 2.8 during the match between Sonmez and Alexandrova. Advice at that reading is to increase hydration.

Ukraine's 20th seed Marta Kostyuk also suffered a surprise defeat on day one as she fell to world number 58 Elsa Jacquemot in a record-setting match.

Frenchwoman Jacquemot won 6-7(4-7) 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (10-7) in what was the first triple tie- break match in Melbourne in the Open era.

Jacquemot fought back from a set and 5-3 down and saved a match point before securing victory after a gruelling three hours and 31 minutes.

It was the longest match of the season so far and was just two minutes shy of 2025's longest match.

"I won it with the heart and with the guts," Jacquemot said afterwards.

Kostyuk's exit is even more surprising given her strong start to the season, having beaten three top-10 players on her way to the Brisbane International final last week.