Intro:

There were wins for Maria Sharapova, Simona Halep, Caroline Wozniacki in the women's draw at the Australian Open, while in the men's Kei Nishikori and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga advanced on Thursday (16th January), as the heat once again caused problems.

Script:

Fans and players alike tried everyway possible to keep cool, as temperatures reached 42 celsius at the Australian Open on Thursday.

The sweltering heat caused officials invoked the Extreme Heat Policy, meaning that matches were stopped at end of sets.

However there was no respite for Maria Sharapova, who was in the middle of her third set against Karin Knapp when the rule was came into effect, with the Russian eventually prevailing 10-8 in the third set.

Elsewhere Japan's Kei Nishikori, the 16th seed, beat Dusan Lajovic 6-1, 6-1, 7-6.

And Simona Halep beat Varvara Lepchenko in three sets, after her opponent receieved treatment in the adverse conditions.

Caroline Wozniacki's second round encounter went ahead in the afternoon and the world number 10 won in three sets against American Christina McHale

Whilst men's 10th seed Jo-Wifried Tsonga was a straight sets winner over Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci.