Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/468421
22 REIGNING World Champion Marc Márquez set the quickest time on day two of MotoGP's sec- ond pre-season test at Sepang in Malaysia. Márquez posted a time of 1:59.844 on his Honda to end the day 0.058s faster than Yamaha ri- val Jorge Lorenzo, with the pair the only riders to dip below the two minute mark. Ducati pair Andrea Iannone and Andrea Dovizioso trialled several different set-ups on the new GP15 bike and ended the day third and fourth quickest, within half a sec- ond of Márquez's time. Dani Pedrosa was fifth fastest for Honda, ahead of Yamaha's Valen- tino Rossi and British pairing Bra- dley Smith and Cal Crutchlow. Suzuki 's encouraging test contin- ued with Aleix Espargaró placing ninth and rookie team-mate Mav- erick Viñales in 12th, split by Tech 3 rider Pol Espargaró and Pramac's Danilo Petrucci. THE 27-year-old Serb has been ab- sent since winning the Australian Open earlier this month and his stamina and temperament were test- ed by a spirited Canadian opponent. Pospisil had made Andy Murray work for a win in Rotterdam last week, but he showed even more stubborn resistance against Djoko- vic, avoiding an early break with his booming serve. The top seed gradually increased the pressure in the opening set, forc- ing Pospisil to net a backhand for a crucial break, and ruthlessly moved into a 1-0 lead. Djokovic appeared to be making serene progress when he broke again at the start of the second, but then surrendered his own serve after a thrilling rally to tie the set up at 2-2. Irritated by a line call, Djokovic could not conceal his frustration, and was forced to repel a string of break points while 3-2 down. Pospisil's moment had passed and he conceded another break with a wayward forehand before Djoko- vic booked his place in the second stage. He will play Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan in the second round. Fourth seed Tomas Berdych also advanced with a 7-6 (7/2) 6-4 win over Frenchman Jeremy Chardy and is joined in the next round by Feli- ciano Lopez, who beat British quali- fier James Ward 6-4 6-4. Roberto Bautista-Agut was another seed to clear his first-round hurdle, the Spaniard easing past Dominic Thiem of Austria 6-3 6-2 in just 50 minutes. Other first-round winners on Tuesday included Italy's Simone Bolleli, Marsel Ilhan of Turkey and Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky, who came from a set down to dispatch Lukas Rosol. Fernando Verdasco also enjoyed a winning start to his Dubai cam- paign, beating Spanish compatriot Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-5 6-1 to set up a second-round clash with de- fending champion Roger Federer. In the other match, Andy Murray moved into the second round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Champion- ships with a straight-sets win over Gilles Muller. The only slight blip for the new world number three came when he was broken the first time he served for the match but he quickly put it behind him to clinch a 6-4 7-5 vic- tory in an hour and 45 minutes. Murray next plays Portugal's Joao Sousa, who he has beaten in straight sets in all four of their previous meet- ings, most recently at last month's Australian Open. Muller has been in the form of his life since linking up with British coach Jamie Delgado, a good friend of Murray's. The pair had been due to play dou- bles together in Rotterdam a fort- night ago only for Muller to pull out through illness. The Luxembourg left-hander with- stood strong pressure from Murray to hold serve in a third game that lasted almost 20 minutes but the Scot broke through two games later. After Murray missed a chance to lead 5-2, Muller threatened to re- cover the break but could not take advantage of opportunities in the eighth and 10th games as the open- ing set slipped away. Murray took a firm grip on the match in the third game of the sec- ond set, his ball-striking looking particularly sharp, and seemed set to clinch victory when he served for it at 5-4. But a double fault proved costly as Muller benefited from two net cords to break back. However, Murray moved ahead again straight away and made no mistake serving for the match a sec- ond time. There was disappointment, though, for British number two James Ward, who lost 6-4 6-4 to sixth seed Feli- ciano Lopez. Ward came through qualifying to reach the main draw but could not pull off the upset against the world number 13 and was left to rue eight missed break points. Londoner Ward will now begin his preparations for next weekend's Davis Cup clash against the USA in Glasgow having on Tuesday been named alongside Murray in the Great Britain team. maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 25 FEBRUARY 2015 Sport TENNIS MOTOGP Novak Djokovic received a decent workout as he returned to action with a 6-4 6-4 win over Vasek Pospisil in the first round of the Dubai Duty Free Championship. In the other match Andy Murray defeated Gilles Muller in straight sets Djokovic through in Dubai Novak Djokovic Márquez sets pace as Sepang test continues