Andy gives no quarter to Lopez in Barcelona

ANDY MURRAY eased into the quarter-finals of the Barcelona Open after a 6-4 6-4 victory over Spain’s Feliciano Lopez.

The world No.1, who had a first-round bye and then benefited from Bernard Tomic’s injury to reach round three, was made to work hard by the 16th seed.

But the Scot’s class told as he broke once in each set to reach his third quarter-final in six events in 2017.

Murray will next face either Albert RamosVinolas or Roberto Bautista Agut.

But Dan Evans’ run came to an end in the third round courtesy of a 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 defeat by Austria’s Dominic Thiem.

Third seed Rafael Nadal advanced to the quarter-finals with a routine 6-3, 6-4 victory over South Africa’s Kevin Anderson.

It was Nadal’s 50th victory at the tournament and sets up a match with South Korean qualifier Hyeon Chung in the last eight today.

Meanwhile, Maria Sharapova declared herself “way above” responding to Eugenie Bouchard after recording the second win of her comeback to reach the quarter-finals of the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart.

After a nervy start and ultimately comfortable win against Roberta Vinci in the first round on Wednesday, Sharapova stepped up a level to beat fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova 7-5 6-1.

It came after Bouchard said Sharapova, returning from a 15-month doping ban, was “a cheater” and that “a cheater in any sport should not be allowed to play again”.

Bouchard added: “She’s not someone I can say I look up to any more”

Asked by the media about the comments, Sharapova said: “I don’t have anything to say – I am way above that.”

The draw has been kind to Sharapova and she will face another unseeded player in the quarter-finals in Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit.