Title forces Caroline Garcia and Aryna Sabalenka have wasted as little time as possible in the extreme heat to scorch into the Australian Open second round at Melbourne Park.
Two months after clashing in the elite season-ending championship final in Texas, Garcia and Sabalenka both won in straight sets in little more than an hour on court as the mercury soared past 35 degrees on Tuesday.
Fifth-seeded Sabalenka continued her unbeaten start to the year with a 6-1 6-4 drubbing of Czech Tereza Martincova in 69 minutes before Garcia crushed Canadian qualifier Katherine Sebov 6-3 6-0 in 65 minutes.
"I definitely need to cool down," Sabalenka said.
"It wasn't an easy match and I'm super happy with the win."
Yet to drop a set in five matches in 2023 after reigning at the Adelaide International, the Belarusian looms as a serious title challenger after reaching the semi-finals of the US Open in September on similarly fast hard courts.
But the 25-year-old is competing without the presence of her national flag at Melbourne Park after Tennis Australia on Tuesday banned Belarusian and Russian banners from the season-opening grand slam.
Russian and Belarusian players are only allowed to compete at the Open under a neutral banner following the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
"I really thought that like tennis - not tennis, just the sport - is nothing to do with politics," Sabalenka said.
"But if everyone feels better this way, then it's okay.
"I mean, I have zero control on it. What can I say?"
Sabalenka is waging her own battle to finally claim her maiden major after years carrying the tag of being one of the sport's best players without a grand slam crown.
Runner-up to Garcia at the season-ending WTA Finals in November, Sabalenka plays American Shelby Rogers in the second round on Thursday.
Fourth-seeded Garcia will face Canada's 2021 US Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez after continuing her amazing return to prominence.
The Frenchwoman was ranked 70th when she lost in the first round last year in Melbourne to world No.165 Hailey Baptiste.
"First round of the first slam of the year, I was not really expecting to come here as the No.4 seed so I'm very grateful to play on RLA - it's my first win here so I'm very happy," she said.
"We always say that things can go very quickly."
In other early matches on day two before play was suspended and the Open's extreme heat policy enforced, Belgian 26th seed Elise Mertens wore down 2020 runner-up and former world No.1 Garbine Muguruza 3-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-1.
