TOKYO -- French Open finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova grasped for an air tube during a medical timeout and grew frustrated at the lack of ice in a court-side container.
German player Mona Barthel struggled with 10 double-faults in a loss to Iga Swiatek as a blinding sun made it nearly impossible to see the ball once she tossed it.
Heat and humidity quickly became a major issue when the Olympic tennis tournament opened Saturday. The temperature soared to 93 degrees, and the heat index made it feel more than 100.
"You're just not feeling great," Pavlyuchenkova said. "So I wasn't enjoying it at all."
Still, Pavlyuchenkova routed Sara Errani of Italy 6-0, 6-1 while Swiatek -- last year's French Open champion from Poland -- beat the 172nd-ranked Barthel 6-2, 6-2 in the opening match on Center Court.
Meanwhile, top-ranked Ashleigh Barty and two-time defending Olympic singles champion Andy Murray are turning their attention to doubles. That's not necessarily what they wanted, though.
Barty was upset by 48th-ranked Spanish opponent Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-4, 6-3 in the first round of the singles tournament this morning. That came shortly after Murray withdrew from singles because of a right quad strain.
Both still remain in the doubles competition.
Barty won with Australian partner Storm Sanders on Saturday while Murray and British partner Joe Salisbury beat the second-seeded French team of Pierre-Hughes Herbert and Nicolas Mahut.
Barty's singles defeat came 15 days after she won Wimbledon for her second Grand Slam title.
Wimbledon finalist Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic beat Alize Cornet of France 6-1, 6-3.
Murray pulled out shortly ahead of his scheduled opener against ninth-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada on Center Court.
"I am really disappointed at having to withdraw but the medical staff have advised me against playing in both events, so I have made the difficult decision to withdraw from the singles and focus on playing doubles with Joe," Murray said.
Novak Djokovic's bid for a Golden Slam is alive and well after a 6-2, 6-2 win over 139th-ranked Hugo Dellien of Bolivia. The top-ranked Serb is attempting to become the first man to win all four major tennis tournaments and an Olympic singles gold medal in the same year.
"You feel constantly dehydrated," said Djokovic, who at least played later in the day when half of the court was in the shade. "There's no circulation of the air."
Second-seeded Daniil Medvedev called it "some of the worst" heat he has played in after eliminating Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan 6-4, 7-6 (8).
"But you have to play," Medvedev said. "That's the Olympics, you go for the medal. You are not here to cry about the heat."
Medvedev suggested that organizers move all matches to the evening to avoid the heat of the day.
"I don't think they are going to change anything in the middle of the tournament, but that's what can be done," he said. "The fact that we have only one minute between the changeovers is a joke. It should be 1:30 like it is in other tournaments."
Ice melted in court-side containers.
"Every time I had to take the ice pack or ice towel it wasn't cold at all," Pavlyuchenkova said. "They expected the heat and it wasn't 100% ready for us."
Pavlyuchenkova needed more than an hour after her match to recover before talking to reporters.
There are rules for extreme heat that call for a 10-minute break between the second and third sets if players request it. Play can also be suspended if an internal advisory group deems conditions dangerous -- in which case play would continue on center court under a retractable roof.
