Smoke haze from wildfires shrouds Melbourne

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

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

Slovenian Dalila Jakupović was leading 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 the second set when she experienced breathing difficulties and retired from the match.

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

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

A local resident commented that the air quality was none like they had seen before, and another said of the tennis match "I think it was pretty ridiculous that they had to play".