Murray to face Verdasco in Dubai

Top-ranked Andy Murray reached his second final of the season with a 7-5, 6-1 win over seventh-seeded Lucas Pouille at the Dubai Tennis Championships. Murray faces unseeded Fernando Verdasco in today’s final. Verdasco defeated Robin Haase 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-1.

Brazil Open: Second-seeded Albert Ramos-Vinolas reached the semifinals with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win against Guido Pella in Sao Paulo. He next faces Joao Sousa, who beat Federico Delbonis 6-3, 6-1.

Mexican Open: Nick Kyrgios used 25 aces to upset topseeded Novak Djokovic 7-6 (9), 7-5 late Thursday night and reach the semifinals in Acapulco.

ODDS AND ENDS

Auto racing: Kevin Harvick won Friday’s pole for Sunday’s second race of the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup season at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Harvick turned a lap of 190.398 mph, edging out runner-up Ryan Newman for the top spot.

Boxing: WBA champion Keith Thurman (27-0, 22 KOs) fights WBC titleholder Danny Garcia (33-0, 19 KOs) tonight on CBS at Barclays Center in Brooklyn in a welterweight unification bout.

■ Russian heavyweight Alexander Povetkin was suspended indefinitely and fined $250,000 by the World Boxing Council in a doping case.

Obits: South Africa’s Simon Hobday, who won the 1994 U.S. Senior Open at Pinehurst, died Thursday in Ballito, South Africa, of cancer. He was 76.

■ Raymond Kopa, a former Real Madrid attacking midfielder who became the first French player to win the Ballon d’Or, died Friday in Paris after being hospitalized last week. He was 85.

NFL: The Philadelphia Eagles will have the No. 14 pick in the first round of NFL draft in April after a coin flip determined a tiebreaker with the Indianapolis Colts, who will have the 15th pick.