Myskina Survives the Heat, Jackson

Whether it’s the first, third or fourth day, conditions are bound to become tricky at the Australian Open.

While today’s temperatures, which hit 90 degrees around mid-afternoon, weren’t truly horrific, it was the first hint of what will be coming this weekend at the first Grand Slam of the year. The weather is expected to become even warmer, supposedly close to 100 on Sunday.

Coping mechanisms weren’t quite in place for all parties. In the third set of their second-round match, both 12th-seeded Anastasia Myskina of Russia and 19-year-old Jamea Jackson needed treatment and cooling measures from the trainers because of the heat.

Myskina, who won, 7-6 (4), 0-6, 6-3, in 2 hours 7 minutes, was especially frightened because she had problems breathing.

“For me, it was pretty bad because I couldn’t catch my breath,” Myskina said. “I don’t know really what happened, if it was because of the sun, or the stress, or maybe all together.”

The conditions produced a ragged match -- they combined for 16 double faults, 103 unforced errors and 14 service breaks.

Myskina was speaking for a moment in the hallway and quickly returned to the locker room, needing to comfort her countrywoman Dinara Safina, who lost to unheralded Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden in the second round. Arvidsson, who won, 6-4, 6-1, will be Myskina’s next opponent.

Jackson had been the only American woman remaining in the lower part of the draw. Still alive in the upper half are No. 1 Lindsay Davenport, No. 13 Serena Williams and Laura Granville.

The biggest upset in the women’s event came late in the day: Left-hander Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic, who had never reached the third round of a Slam, defeated No. 5 Mary Pierce of France, 6-3, 7-5, in the second round. Benesova, a 22-year-old ranked 42nd, rallied from a 3-5 deficit in the second set and hit a successful drop shot on match point.

Pierce reached the final of two majors last year and the 31-year-old was considered one of the favorites here. But unforced errors proved her undoing as she committed 41 to Benesova’s 19.

On the men’s side, Kevin Kim of Newport Coast lost to No. 5 Nikolay Davydenko of Russia in the second round. Davydenko defeated Kim, 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, 6-2, and will face Australian wild card Nathan Healey who defeated American wild card Amer Delic, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-4.Not everyone struggled with the conditions, starting of course with top-seeded Roger Federer of Switzerland. Federer has lost 12 games in two matches. Today’s victim was Florian Mayer of Germany.

Federer won, 6-1, 6-4, 6-0, and sounded an ominous note.

“When I’m maybe not that fast any more around the court, then maybe it would be good to maybe come to the net a little bit more often,” he said.

“I feel I can play this game for many years to come because I feel like I don’t use too much energy out on the court because I play very relaxed.”

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American qualifier Alex Bogomolov Jr., who played later today, was fined $4,500 for verbal abuse and obscene language following his controversial opening match against No. 9 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, which Bogomolov won in five sets.