By Tom Coleman
The niece of an elderly Welsh tennis fan that passed out on the opening day of Wimbledon has thanked ‘sweetheart’ Carlos Alcaraz for coming to her aid. The Spaniard was 3-0 up in a decisive fifth set during a tense first-round encounter with Fabio Fognini on Monday, but paused the match after alerting the umpire to an incident in the stands . Alcaraz had spotted that an elderly fan had fallen to the floor, and was being treated by Centre Court medics. He was later seen carrying over a cold bottle of water from the bucket behind his seat in a bid to help the stricken spectator. Temperatures soared to over 31.4 degrees by 2pm, the hottest opening day ever seen at the championships, and other spectators could be seen also be seen trying to help the lady by fanning her and shading her with umbrellas. After play was stopped for 17 minutes, she was eventually carried away, and was thankfully sat up and responsive. The woman has since been named as 79-year-old widow Delyth Lewis, who hails from from West Wales. Lewis was there especially to see Alcaraz, and niece Sharon was full of praise for the world number two’s actions on the day. Sharon told the Daily Mail: “We think she over heated, we were drinking plenty of water, we were just about to hop out because she said she needed a break from the sun but she was desperate to see him win. “Suddenly she just leaned over and passed out. “He came over straight away, he stayed and he kept talking to her. He was such a sweetheart. “She鈥檚 a huge fan. The first thing she asked when she came around was that did he win? And she was delighted that he did win but she was sorry she didn’t get to see it! “She was delighted when she realised he came to help her but she was a bit embarrassed about passing out. She was very pleased. “She鈥檚 a number one fan of his. She enters the ballot every year.” After the match resumed, Alcaraz broke Fognini for a second time in the set to go 4-0 up, going on to take the decider to complete a 7-5, 6-7, 7-5, 2-6, 6-1 win. He will face Britain’s Oliver Tarvet in round two.