Sania feels the heat in the Australian Open

Melbourne, Jan 17 (UNI) Her cool decimating of Olga Savchuk in straight sets notwithstanding, Sania Mirza is feeling the heat, literally, in the 40 degree furnace at Melbourne Park even though the Hyderabadi ace seems unfazed by the hostile environment.

''I know India's hot and everything, but it's not that hot,'' Sania said, comparing it with India.

''When the weather's hot in India, I kind of play early morning or late in the evening. But compared to the Ukraine, I guess it's hotter,'' she told The Age.

Women's top seed Maria Sharapova was literally gasping for breath after her three hour battle under a blazing sun with on-court temperatures soaring towards 50 degrees yesterday.

Women's Tennis Association (WTA) chairman Larry Scott also sounded wary and said, ''Player health and wellbeing is our top priority and I was very concerned about the conditions yesterday and the potential risks to our players.'' Sania has been here for a few weeks and helped the Indian acclimatise with the place and the Hyderabadi reached the semifinals at the Hobart Open earlier this month, signalling her return to form.

Sania, however, is yet to come to terms with the soaring mercury and the exciting youngster said the heat is all too familiar.

''It tans you. You can feel the sun on your legs at the changeover. You can feel it burning. Hyderabad's not as hot,'' she said.

On the huge burden of expectations on her shoulder, Sania said, ''That's been there always and it's only going to grow now. It's something I have to live with and there's not much I can do about it. The quicker everyone accepts that, the easier it is for everyone.'' Sania observed the game was growing in India and said, ''I got so many messages last night saying: 'We're sleeping early so we can get up at 5.30 and watch the match.' I've never seen or heard of that before. Tennis is growing. It's a matter of time before we have a lot of players coming out on this level. A lot of people are picking up tennis racquets. I just hope in five years' time we don't just have one tennis player.'' UNI