The big story: Murray beat American Sam Querrey to advance

World No. 1 Andy Murray eased past American Sam Querrey to reach the fourth round at the Australian Open on Friday. The Briton won 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 to keep his hopes of winning his maiden Australian Open title alive and kicking. He has finished as runner-up five times in Melbourne and is looking to snap the run this year.

Murray will face Germany’s Mischa Zverev in the fourth round. Querrey had upset then world No. 1 Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon last summer, but Murray made sure he did not fall victim to another shock after the Serb’s surprise defeat by Denis Istomin on Thursday.

Murray went into the third round clash having twisted his ankle in the previous match. “I felt better and better as the match went on in terms of my movement,” said Murray. “I was a little bit hesitant maybe at the beginning. It was a little bit sore but I was moving well at the end, so that was very positive.”

Other top stories

Tennis

  • India’s highest ranked men’s doubles player Rohan Bopanna and his Uruguayan partner Pablo Cuveas lost their second-round encounter against Australia’s Alex Bolt and Bradley Mousley on Friday.  
  • Sania Mirza won her second-round encounter with ease as she and her partner Barbora Strycova beat Samantha Stosur and Shuai Zhang 6-1, 6-4 on Friday.
  • Defending champion Angelique Kerber reached the fourth round of the Australian Open after beating Czech Kristyna Pliskova 6-0, 6-4.
  • Fourth seed Stan Wawrinka came from a set down to defeat Victor Troicki 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. 7-6(7) and advance to the fourth round of the Australian Open.
  • India’s outgoing Davis Cup captain Anand Amritraj has clarified that he has not sought action against young player Sumit Nagal, saying that the All India Tennis Association should be lenient towards him.

Cricket

  • Yuvraj Singh revealed he did contemplate retirement at one stage after his fight with cancer, but it was skipper Virat Kohli’s trust that has kept him going, which he said made it important for him to repay that faith.
  • England players have fined 10% of their match fees while captain Eoin Morgan was docked 20% of his earnings for maintaining a slow over-rate in the second ODI against India in Cuttack.
  • Opening batsman Soumya Sarkar steered Bangladesh to a competitive 289 all out on day one of the second Test against New Zealand in Christchurch on Friday.
  • Names for new BCCI administrators have been submitted in sealed cover to the Supreme Court. The Apex Court will decide on a final panel for implementation Lodha reforms soon, Hindustan Times reported.
  • Vidarbha Cricket Association will host the two Under-19 ‘Test’ matches between India and England after Tamil Nadu Cricket Association refused to stage the game. 

Football

  • Barcelona finally snapped their 10-year winless run at Real Sociedad with a 1-0 victory in the first-leg of their Copa del Rey quarter-final on Thursday.
  • Tottenham defender Jan Vertonghen will be out for nearly six weeks because of an ankle ligament injury.  
  • Manchester City have been cleared to play 19-year-old Brazilian winger Gabriel Jesus against Tottenham on Saturday. Jesus completed his £27 million move from Palmeiras in a five-year deal with City.      
  • Sadio Mane scored as Senegal beat Zimbabwe to become the first team to reach the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals.