In a manner befitting of London buses, Andy Murray waited an age for a clay court tennis title before two came along at once. His latest, at the Madrid Open, was sealed with a flawless 6-3, 6-2 win over the favourite Rafael Nadal, comfortably trumping the Scot’s maiden win on clay in Munich the previous week and leaving him slightly lost for words. “This is the reason why we play tennis, for these matches,” Murray remarked afterwards, and in this form he may even fancy his chances at the French Open, which starts later this month. Petra Kvitová won the women’s title in Madrid, the Czech thrashing Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-1, 6-2 in the final. Earlier in the semi-finals, Kvitová had brought to an end the astonishing 27-game unbeaten run of Serena Williams, a sequence stretching back to last October.
Strauss takes the helm
It was in with the old and then out with the old again for the England and Wales Cricket Board, which appointed ex-captain Andrew Strauss as its new sporting director, then sacked national coach Peter Moores for the second time following last month’s drawn Test series against West Indies. Yorkshire’s Australian coach Jason Gillespie refused to be drawn over rumours he was England’s first choice to take over for the Ashes series later this summer. None of which seemed to faze New Zealand, opening their tour of England minus seven of their starting line-up still on Indian Premier League duty.
Strugglers down and out
The Premier League’s favourite cannon fodder, Burnley and Queens Park Rangers, rounded off dismal campaigns as both were relegated from English football’s top flight. A battling 1-0 win at fellow strugglers Hull City came too late to save Burnley, while QPR’s fate was sealed with a 6-0 hammering at Manchester City, a sour ending that led coach Chris Ramsay to allude acrimoniously to “bad eggs” and “some sort of lack of X-factor” in his beleaguered team.
Contador back in the saddle
Cycling’s big guns returned to the saddle in a blur of garish Lycra for the first Grand Tour of the season, the Giro d’Italia. Much attention over the course of the race, which runs to the end of the month, will focus on Spain’s Alberto Contador and his stated ambition to win both the Giro and the Tour de France this year. But it was one of Contador’s main rivals, Orica-GreenEdge rider Mike Matthews, who wore the pink leader’s jersey after the second stage on the back of a strong team showing in the opening time trials.
Fowler confounds his critics
Rickie Fowler, voted one of the PGA golf tour’s most overrated players by his fellow pros, showed them where to stick that assessment as he won the Tournament Players Championship at Sawgrass. Fowler prevailed in a three-way playoff with Sergio Garcia and Kevin Kisner after all had finished tied at 12 under par for the tournament.
