Nadal, Murray win in Barcelona
Defending champion Rafael Nadal defeated Kevin Anderson 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday to reach the quarterfinals of the Barcelona Open. Andy Murray struggled to join him.
Murray had his hands full getting past Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 6-4.
Nadal converted a break point in each set to secure his seventh straight clay-court victory. He’ll next face qualifier Hyeon Chung of South Korea, who defeated eighth-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany 6-1, 6-4. Murray will play a quarterfinal against Albert Ramos-Viñolas, who defeated fellow Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.
Maria Sharapova won again in her return from a 15-month doping suspension, beating fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova 7-5, 6-1 to reach the Porsche Grand Prix quarterfinals in Stuttgart, Germany. Two-time defending champion Angelique Kerber, who was against Sharapova receiving a wild-card entry, was upset by Kristina Mladenovic of France 6-2, 7-5. College baseball: Maverick Handley hit an RBI double to tie the game in the seventh inning and the next batter, Matt Winaker, doubled home Handley with the goahead run as 18th-ranked Stanford (25-12, 9-7 Pac-12) made it six wins in a row with a 3-2 decision over No. 13 Arizona (27-13, 9-10) at Sunken Diamond. College golf: Stanford, Cal and San Jose State landed berths in NCAA women’s regionals May 8-10. The Cardinal earned the No. 1 seed in the Albuquerque Regional, with the Bears seeded No. 7 at the same site. The Spartans got the No. 10 seed in Columbus, Ohio. Six teams from each regional advance to the NCAA Championships.
Individuals qualifying for the tournament included Kristin Le (Santa Clara), Vanessa Ha (USF) and Paige Lee (UC Davis).
San Jose State senior My Leander was named Mountain West Women’s Golfer of the Year, and Spartans head coach John Dormann earned Coach of the Year honors.
— Ron Kroichick Soccer: Manchester United persevered following Marouane Fellaini’s late ejection for headbutting Sergio Aguero to eke out a 0-0 draw at Manchester City in the English Premier League. United is in fifth place, a point behind City with five games remaining in the race for a top-four finish to qualify for Champions League.