Ruud ‘like a zombie’ as he feared heatstroke in tough Paris win

Ruud overcomes heat struggles to progress in ParisImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Casper Ruud was runner-up at the French Open in 2022 and 2023Published45 minutes agoCasper Ruud mentioned 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 mentioned 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 mentioned 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 treatment towards the end of the fourth set.Both players left the court for an extended period before the fifth set, after which 15th seed Ruud eventually completed a 6-2 7-6 (7-5) 5-7 0-6 6-2 victory. The contest lasted three hours and 56 minutes on Court Simonne-Mathieu.GB’s Boulter scrapes into French Open second round