In the blue ribbon under-16 events, which are the highest age group attracting gold level national ranking points, the results followed the form guide with winners including No.1 boys seed Newcastle’s Matthew Wenta, who beat Albury’s Matthew Heitmeyer 6-0,6-1, and Wollongong No.2 seed Jack Swindells, who defeated the Sunshine Coast’s Rhys Williams, 6-4 6-4.

In the girls under-16s, the top two seeds enjoyed byes while No.3 Eliza Long, from Knowsley near Bendigo, won 6-3, 6-0 over Queanbeyan’s Lara Gallagher and fourth seed Gabby Hooker, from Wollongong, defeated the Northern Territory’s Cara Petrofes 6-0, 6-0.

“We’ve had no big surprises today,” assistant tournament director Dominic Mahaffey said.

In other results in the under-16 girls, Papua New Guinea’s Marcia Tere-Apisah, the little sister of Abigail who is based in Albury, lived up to her pre-tournament hype with a strong win over Wollongong’s Rochelle Morris, 6-1, 6-2.

Also among the winners from the strong international contingent at the event was Mark Ginting, from Indonesia, who defeated the No.11 seed Khaled Haddara, of Melbourne, in the boys under-14s.

Mahaffey said tournament organisers would monitor weather conditions over the next few days.

The thermometer is expected to hit 40 today and more than 40 for Sunday and Monday.

“It’s the first time we’ve had three, maybe even four, plus 40 degree days predicted so we’ll be wary of the hot weather and make modifications to the scheduling if required,” he said.

“At the moment we are running on time.”

Organisers have already moved to delay tomorrow’s afternoon sessions to 5pm with an earlier session of 8.30am to 1pm.