Smoke haze from wildfires shrouds Melbourne

Melbourne continued to be shrouded in hazardous smoke on Wednesday. City authorities said y hope an easing of wildfires conditions will improve air quality toward end of week. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters on Wednesday wear outlook is "benign" which will provide firefighters and authorities with an opportunity to gain upper hand on fires that have devastated large parts of several states.

On Tuesday, smoke haze and poor air quality temporarily suspended practice sessions for Australian Open at Melbourne Park but qualifying began later in morning in "very poor" conditions and amid complaints by at least one player who was forced to forfeit her match.

Slovenian Dalila Jakupović was leing her first-round Australian Open qualifying match against Switzerland's Stefanie Vögele when she dropped to her knees with a coughing spell.

Ranked 180th, Jakupović was a setup and one point away from a tiebreaker in second set when she experienced breathing difficulties and retired from match.

Jakupović said she h never experienced playing in such conditions where she couldn't brea, saying "I h a feeling like I'm going to collapse on court and I was really scared."

Qualifying matches were delayed on Wednesday until haze clears sufficiently, local media reported.

A local resident commented that air quality was ne like y h seen before, and ar said of tennis match "I think it was pretty ridiculous that y h to play".