Andy Murray to fight No. 1 Novak Djokovic

Madrid: A resurgent Andy Murray (pic) of Great Britain defeated Denis Shapovalov of Canada 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 to reach the third round at the Madrid Open, an ATP 1000 tournament. This is the first time the 34-year-old Murray, the winner of three Grand Slams who has had major hip surgeries, has won consecutive matches since January in Sydney, where the 46-time tour-level titlist reached the final. Following fine wins against two former top-10 players — Dominic Thiem of Austria in the opening round and Shapovalov in the second round — Murray will be up against world No.1 Novak Djokovic of Serbia. This will be Murray and Djokovic’s first meeting since the Doha final in 2017 and at stake is a place in the quarterfinals. IANS

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Jabeur reaches Madrid semis

Madrid: Tunisian Ons Jabeur reached her career-second WTA 1000 semifinal after beating former World No. 1 Simona Halep (pic) 6-3, 6-2 at the Madrid Open on Wednesday. Jabeur, who reached the Indian Wells last four in 2021, won an impressive 77.8% points on her first serve and converted four of her five break points against two-times champion Halep to seal the victory in just over an hour. World No. 10 Jabeur will face the winner of the match between Ekaterina Anisimova and Amanda Alexandrova for a spot in her first WTA 1000 final. Reuters

Majumdar faces two -year ban

Mumbai: The BCCI has imposed a two-year ban on Boria Majumdar for bullying senior wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha, barring the sports journalist from interviewing registered players and entering stadiums in the country. Majumdar won’t be given media accreditation for two years as part of the sanctions ratified by the BCCI Apex Council. On February 25, the BCCI had formed a three-member committee to probe the threat messages given to Saha for declining an interview request.