Konta is only seed left in top half of Sydney draw

Johanna Konta succeeded where other seeds in her half of the draw failed as she reached the quarter-finals of the Apia International in Sydney.

Konta came on court immediately after world No 1 Angelique Kerber’s defeat to Daria Kasatkina, while Dominika Cibulkova and Svetlana Kuznetsova, seeded third and fifth respectively, had also crashed out.

That left Konta as the only seed in the top half of the draw and it was not an opportuni- ty the Briton wasted as she battled to a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Russian-born Australian Daria Gavrilova in 81 minutes.

Meanwhile, Maria Sharapova will make her professional tennis comeback following her doping ban at the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart in April. The former world No 1 is serving a 15-month ban after testing positive for cardiac drug meldonium last January and is eligible to compete again on 26 April. Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes team will head into the new Formula One season without Paddy Lowe after the British technical chief decided to leave the sport’s world-championship winning constructor.

Lowe, 54, has played an integral role in Mercedes’ recent domination, culminating in a hat-trick of successive constructor and driver titles.

But Lowe, whose contract with Mercedes was due to expire in May, has been placed on gardening leave, with Williams set to be his next destination.

The switch is likely to trigger Valterri Bottas’ move in the other direction with the Finn expected to team up with Hamilton following world champion Nico Rosberg’s retirement.