MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Helping her opponent Marina Stakusic leave court in a wheelchair wasn't how Priscilla Hon envisioned the scene when she finally returned to the second round of the Australian Open for the first time since 2020.
Hon was leading 1-6, 6-4, 5-3 when her Canadian rival needed treatment for severe leg cramps on ANZ Arena on Monday. The temperature was around 29 Celsius (84 Fahrenheit) and not particularly humid, by local standards in summer.
Stakusic was one of two Canadian players to struggle with cramps on Day 2 of the season's first major, with men's No. 7 Felix Auger-Aliassime also retiring from his match with Nuno Borges of Portugal. Borges led 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 after about two hours when the 25-year-old Auger-Aliassime walked to the net to shake hands.
“I can’t recall ever in my life (cramping) this early in a tournament, this early in a match,” Auger-Aliassime said. “I’m OK, but I just started cramping at the start of the third set. Yeah, it became very difficult to be competitive at this level.”
Stakusic was on court for two hours and was in obvious distress when medical staff called for a wheelchair to help her off the court. Hon held the Canadian qualifier's left leg as she was wheeled toward the exit and the pair were able to talk briefly.
“I really hope she does feel better. That was quite a scene out there,” Hon said. “I had quite a few people come up to me and be, like, ‘Wow, that was so dramatic.’”
Hon said she was comfortable in the conditions, which have been consistently warm but not humid at Melbourne Park.
“I mean, I’m Australian, so I should be quite used to it,” she said. “It was definitely warm out there, and I think as well with the nerves, the stress levels, it just all impacts it.”
Conditions were similar on Day 1 of the tournament, when Turkish qualifier Zeynep Sönmez rushed to the aid of an ailing ballkid during her first-round upset win over No. 11 Ekaterina Alexandrova.
Sönmez was receiving serve in the ninth game of the second set when a ballkid wobbled, lost balance and stumbled backward with what appeared to be heat-related sickness. The ballkid stood up quickly but started wobbling again, and Sönmez went to the courtside and put an arm around her waist to help her into some shade.
The ballkid was treated and quickly recovered , the tournament said.
Maximum temperatures are expected to be slightly cooler during the first week but increase on Saturday.
Nuno Borges of Portugal serves to Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada during their first round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)
Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada plays a forehand return to Nuno Borges of Portugal during their first round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)
ADAMUZ, Spain (AP) — Spanish police said Monday that at least 39 people died in the high-speed train collision Sunday in southern Spain and rescue efforts were continuing.
The collision occurred when the tail end of a train traveling between Malaga and Madrid with some 300 passengers went off the rails near Cordoba at 7:45 p.m. It slammed into a train coming from Madrid to Huelva, another southern Spanish city, according to rail operator Adif.
Rescue efforts were still underway Monday morning. Andalusia regional President Juanma Moreno said 75 passengers were hospitalized, with most taken to Cordoba, about 390 kilometers (242 miles) south of Madrid.
The Spanish Red Cross set up a help center in the town of Adamuz, near the crash site, offering assistance to emergency services and people seeking information. Members of Spain’s civil guard and civil defense worked on site throughout the night.
Spain’s Transport Minister Óscar Puente early Monday said the cause of the crash was unknown.
He called it “a truly strange” incident because it happened on a flat stretch of track that had been renovated in May. He also said the train that jumped the track was less than 4 years old. That train belonged to the private company Iryo, while the second train, which took the brunt of the impact, was part of Spain’s public train company Renfe.
According to Puente, the back part of the first train derailed and crashed into the head of the other train, knocking its first two carriages off the track and down a 4-meter (13-foot) slope. He said the worst damage was to the front section of the Renfe train.
When asked by reporters how long an inquiry into the crash’s cause could take, he said it could be a month.
Spain has the largest high-speed rail network in Europe for trains moving over 250 kph (155 mph), with more than 3,100 kilometers (1,900 miles) of track, according to the European Union.
The network is a popular, competitively priced and safe mode of transport. Renfe said more than 25 million passengers took one of its high-speed trains in 2024.
Train services between Madrid and cities in Andalusia would not run Monday.
Spain’s worst train accident this century occurred in 2013, when 80 people died after a train derailed in the country’s northwest. An investigation concluded the train was traveling 179 kph (111 mph) on a stretch with an 80 kph (50 mph) speed limit when it left the tracks.
Wilson reported from Barcelona, Spain, and Naishadham from Madrid. AP journalist Barry Hatton contributed from Lisbon, Portugal.
An injured person is transported to the makeshift hospital in the sports center in Adamuz, near Córdoba, southern Spain, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, after a high-speed train derailed and collided with another train. (Francisco J. Olmo/Europa Press via AP)
An injured person is transported to the makeshift hospital in the sports center in Adamuz, near Córdoba, southern Spain, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, after a high-speed train derailed and collided with another train. (Francisco J. Olmo/Europa Press via AP)
An injured person is transported by ambulance in Adamuz, near Córdoba, southern Spain, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, after a high-speed train derailed and collided with another train. (Francisco J. Olmo/Europa Press via AP)
