Paris, May 26 -- Casper Ruud said he felt he was almost "walking around like a zombie"at times as he struggled in extreme heat during his first-round win over Roman Safiullin at the French Open.
Temperatures were said to have reached 33C on the first two days of the tournament in Paris, causing uncomfortable conditions for some.
Norwegian Ruud spurned five match points in the third set against Safiullin, by which time he said he had already started to feel cramping in his legs.
He later had medical timeouts and used ice towels and water to try to cool himself during changes of ends. From 5-2 down in the third set, Russian qualifier Safiullin won 11 consecutive games to force a decider - but he also had injury problems which required trea...