NEW YORK --- The scene was simply scary: Victoria Azarenka, a 21-year-old on the rise in the WTA rankings, paused about a half-hour into her second-round match Wednesday at the U.S. Open, then staggered, stumbled and collapsed to the court.
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Azarenka, seeded 10th in the Grand Slam tournament, rolled over to rest her head on her arm, and a trainer rushed over. Someone covered Azarenka's legs with a white towel. She eventually was helped into a wheelchair, her yellow visor askew atop her head, then taken to a hospital, where tests showed she had a mild concussion.
As a record-breaking summer suffocates New York, the temperature in Flushing Meadows headed into the 90s for a third consecutive day, and the mercury topped 100 degrees on court.
But tournament referee Brian Early said Azarenka's problem did "not seem to be primarily a heat-related illness."
Indeed, Azarenka herself later revealed she fell in the gym while warming up before the match, banging her head and arm in the gym.
"I was checked by the medical team before I went on court and they were courtside for monitoring. I felt worse as the match went on, having a headache and feeling dizzy," said Azarenka, who is from Belarus but lives part of the year in Scottsdale, Ariz., with the family of NHL goalie Nikolai Khabibulin, someone she considers a mentor.
Azarenka began wobbling early in her match against Argentina's Gisela Dulko, taking extra time between points and wincing occasionally, clearly in distress. Azarenka said she "started having trouble seeing and felt weak."
She is an up-and-comer on tour, part of a group of young players seen as potential future Grand Slam champions. Azarenka beat Maria Sharapova in the final of a hard-court tournament in California last month and pushed Serena Williams to three sets before losing in the Australian Open quarterfinals in January.
Wednesday's match was halted with Azarenka trailing Dulko 5-1.
"It was terrible. It's not nice to see someone feeling bad, not nice to win a match this way. I hope she feels OK now," said Dulko, who walked around the net to check on Azarenka. "I was worried for her."
It was by far the most stunning developing on Day 3 of a tournament that produced some surprising results on the scoreboard, including 18-year-old American qualifier Ryan Harrison's 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-4 victory over 15th-seeded Ivan Ljubicic, and unseeded Michael Llodra's 7-6 (3), 6-4, 6-4 upset of Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych.
Winners included No. 4-seeded Andy Murray, the 2008 runner-up, who said he wore a hat during a match for the first time in four or five years because of the heat; No. 12 Mikhail Youzhny; No. 14 Nicolas Almagro; No. 18 John Isner, best known for his all-sorts-of-records-smashing Wimbledon marathon victory that ended 70-68 in the fifth set; and No. 20 Sam Querrey, who beat NCAA singles champion Bradley Klahn of Stanford 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 in an all-American matchup.
In a night match, Andy Roddick carried on a lengthy argument with a lineswoman over a foot-fault call -- although it wasn't nearly the sort of tirade Serena Williams delivered a year ago, nor did it come at as crucial a moment.
The call was made while Roddick trailed in the third set of what would become a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (4) loss to Janko Tipsarevic in the second round.
Roddick asked the line judge which foot crossed the baseline, and she told him it was his right foot.
"That's impossible," Roddick snapped.
A TV replay showed Roddick did commit a foot fault -- but with his left foot.
The lineswoman was not on court at the start of the fourth set.
Also in a night match, defending champion Kim Clijsters reached the third round by beating 201st-ranked qualifier Sally Peers, of Australia, 6-2, 6-1.
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