The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Murray’s on march again in Barcelona
Tennis: Konta bows out as Sharapova triumphs again
World number one Andy Murray was given a good workout against Feliciano Lopez as he booked a place in the quarter-finals of the Barcelona Open with a hard-earned 6-4, 6-4 win yesterday.
Murray entered the Spanish tournament to build up match time as he continued his recovery from an elbow injury which saw him return to action last week in Monte Carlo after more than a month on the sidelines.
The 29-year-old Scot had been given a bye through to the second round and then saw Australian Bernard Tomic pull out of their scheduled contest on Wednesday because of a back problem. Spaniard Lopez produced stubborn resistance before Murray eventually progressed into the last eight.
Dan Evans’ unlikely run at the tournament came to an end with a third-round loss to fourth seed Dominic Thiem.
The British number three, who is not a fan of clay, went into the tournament looking for his first ATP Tour victory on the surface. He managed two but Austrian Thiem proved a step too far as he won 7-6 (7-5), 6-2.
Johanna Konta was knocked
Gout of the Porsche Grand Prix in the second round by Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova in Stuttgart. The British number one is inexperienced on clay at the highest level and it showed in a scrappy 6-3, 7-5 defeat to Sevastova, who also won their meeting at the US Open last year.
Maria Sharapova, meanwhile, declared herself “way above” responding to Eugenie Bouchard after recording the second win of her comeback to reach the quarter-finals.
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 world number 59 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 about the comments, Sharapova said: “I don’t have anything to say – I am way above that.”
On the court, the five-time grand slam champion generated
“Evans’ run at the tournament came to an end”
huge power off her ground strokes from the off and wore down dogged Makarova after an hour and 19 minutes.
The French Open has increased prize money to a total of
G£30.4million for this summer’s tournament.
That is a rise of £3,371,000 from last year’s event, with the winners of the singles titles to take home £1.8million each.
The biggest increases have once again come in the early rounds, with those losing in first-round qualifying guaranteed £4,200 – a rise of more than 40% in a year.