22 Thursday, April 26, 2018 SPORTS Barcelona Open Omar Fraile clinches stage Bahrain-Merida’s Sonny Colbrelli Djokovic finishes second place in Stage 1 beaten

by Klizan Martin Klizan plays a shot (Pic courtesy: AFP)

Top seed Rafael Nadal and advance Omar Fraile celebrates Barcelona second seed Grigor Dimitrov Delemont The Spaniard’s surge ormer world number of Bulgaria experienced no mar Fraile took of pace caught Colbrelli one such problems, but Japan’s Astana’s 14th victory of by surprise, who might Fhas suffered another early Kei Nishikori retired theO 2018 season after he beat have assumed he was the defeat as Slovakia’s Martin after losing the first set to Bahrain-Merida’s Sonny fastest rider remaining in Klizan won their second Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. Colbrelli on stage 1 of the the dramatically reduced round match at the Barcelona Nishikori had an issue with Tour de Romandie. Fraile peloton, and he quickly Open. his right wrist. went long on the run-in to nudged in front of the Djokovic has now won just Nadal beat fellow Spaniard the line Delémont and held Bahrain-Merida rider. two of five matches since the Roberto Carballes Baena off the Italian with Rui Costa Colbrelli did his utmost , where he 6-4 6-4 to win his 37th and taking third. to overhaul Fraile, but the was beaten by Chung Hyeon, 38th consecutive sets on clay, Astana have enjoyed a frenetic finish had taken after a 6-2 1-6 6-3 loss at breaking a record he had strong start to the season and its toll and he had to settle Sabadell yesterday. Klizan jointly held with Ilie Nastase dominated last week’s Tour for second place. He fared converted all three of his of Romania. of the Alps. The Kazakh better than race leader break-point opportunities to Nadal has now won team looked determined Michael Matthews (Team prevail. 15 successive matches on to do something today and Sunweb), who was distanced After losing to Dominic the surface and next plays Dario Cataldo launched on the final climb, leaving Thiem of Austria at the Novak Djokovic reacts Garcia-Lopez. a brief attack near the top Primoz Roglic (LottoNL- Monte Carlo Masters last losing to Frenchman Benoit term elbow injury. Dimitrov defeated France’s of the final climb with 11 Jumbo) in perfect position week, the 30-year-old Serb Paire earlier this month, and Klizan, a qualifier and 6-2 6-1, while kilometres remaining. to take control of the general experienced another defeat last month at Indian Wells, world number 140, will Thiem, the third seed, They had a second bite classification. ahead of the at where Japan’s Daniel Taro was meet Feliciano Lopez in defeated wildcard Jaume of the cherry after bringing He is equal on time Roland Garros, which begins the victor. He has not reached the quarter-finals after the Munar of Spain 7-6 (8/6) 6-1. back a number of late with Rohan Dennis (BMC on May 22. the last eight of a tournament Spaniard’s win over Serbia’s Dimitrov will next play attackers in the final two Racing) while Geraint Djokovic suffered early since Wimbledon 2017 and Dusan Lajovic on Tuesday. Malek Jaziri of . (PA kilometres with Fraile opting Thomas (Team Sky) sits in exits at the Miami Open, has struggled with a long- Top seed Rafael Nadal and Sport) to kick out as they rounded third place at four seconds. the final corner. (Cyclingnews) Murray to sit out new Glasgow event Tour de Romandie, stage one: London Fribourg to Delémont, 166.6km ndy Murray has decided not to launch his comeback to tennis following injury at the Glasgow Trophy this week. 1. Omar Fraile (Esp) Astana, in 4 hrs 03 min 42 secs AHe was considering playing in the new ATP Challenger 2. Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida event in Scotstoun, which gets under way on Saturday. 3. Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates But the former world number one has opted to continue 4. Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ his recovery from hip surgery away from the match court. 5. Gorka Izagirre (Esp) Bahrain-Merida The next confirmed tournament in Murray’s schedule 6. Egan Bernal (Col) Team Sky is the Rosmalen grass-court event, the Libema Open, in 7. Pierre Latour (Fra) Ag2r La Mondiale Netherlands in May. 8. Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert That comes before the tournament at Queen’s Club that 9. Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Dimension Data immediately precedes Wimbledon. 10. Eros Capecchi (Ita) Quick-Step Floors, all at same time Murray does, however, also have an option to play a Challenger event in Loughborough next month. General classification : Although the 30-year-old’s name is among the entries 1. Primoz Roglic (Slo) LottoNL-Jumbo, in 4 hrs 09 min 16 secs for the French Open, it is understood the former Roland 2. Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing, at same time Garros finalist will not be playing in Paris or at any other 3. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky, at 4 secs tournament in the current clay-court swing. 4. Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Sky, at 5 secs Murray last played competitively at Wimbledon, the scene 5. Pierre Latour (Fra) Ag2r La Mondiale, at same time of two tournament triumphs, in July. 6. Gorka Izagirre (Esp) Bahrain-Merida, at 8 secs Meanwhile, the Lawn Tennis Association has announced 7. Egan Bernal (Col) Team Sky, at 10 secs that fellow Scotsman Aidan McHugh, a Murray protege, is 8. Jonathan Castroviejo (Esp) Team Sky, at same time (Cyclingweekly) (file pic) among four wildcards for the new £72,000 event, which runs until 6 May. (BBC)