Murray advances in Monte Carlo, Nadal taken to three sets

World number one Andy Murray overcame a dreadful start to beat Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller 7-5 7-5 and reach the Monte Carlo Masters third round as he made his return from a five-week injury layoff yesterday.The Briton, who had a first-round bye, had not played competitive tennis since injuring his elbow in March and began with three double faults as he lost his opening service game. Left-hander Muller served for the first set but Murray dug himself out of trouble to move through.Rafael Nadal began his quest for a 10th title in the principality but was also made to work hard by Murray’s compatriot Kyle Edmund – winning 6-0 5-7 6-3.Nadal made a dazzling start on one of his favourite courts but hard-hitting 22-year-old Edmund hit back to worry the Spaniard who was playing his 400th match on the red dust.Top seed Murray, 29, was all at sea in the opening stages against Muller but eventually settled into his rhythm to scramble past the world number 28.He takes on Albert Ramos-Vinolas next while Nadal, seeded four, has a tricky task against another young gun in Germany’s Alexander Zverev who eased past Feliciano Lopez.“It was a tough first match,” Murray told Sky Sports. “I started slow and wasn’t serving well at the start.“I only started serving properly four, five days ago, so I knew it was going to take time but I didn’t expect to start the match serving like that.”Third seed Stan Wawrinka beat Czech Jiri Vesely 6-2 4-6 6-2 while sixth seed Dominic Thiem of Austria lost only four first service points as he beat Robin Haase 6-3 6-2 to set up a meeting with Belgian 10th seed David Goffin.Fifth seed Marin Cilic of Croatia destroyed France’s Jeremy Chardy 6-3 6-0.German veteran Tommy Haas’s hopes of following up his first-round victory over Benoit Paire were dashed when he was beaten in three sets by Czech Tomas Berdych who plays Cilic next.Returning Sharapova shrugs off criticismMaria Sharapova has brushed off criticism from her rivals as she prepares to make her return next week in Stuttgart following her 15-month doping ban.“That is the least of my concerns,” the 30-year-old Russian told yesterday’s edition of Stern magazine.“I haven’t wasted a single thought on it. I know that I am respected in my field.  I see it in how my opponents play against me.”Sharapova, a five-times Grand Slam champion, had an initial two-year suspension by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) reduced to 15 months after she tested positive at the 2016 Australian Open for meldonium.It is a medication Sharapova had been taking when it was within the rules, but which was later reclassified as a prohibited drug.The Russian makes her return next Wednesday - the first day she is eligible to play -having been given a wildcard for Stuttgart’s WTA tournament with some rivals disapproving of the organisers’ decision.“It’s a German tournament and we have so many good German players, so this is a little strange,” said Germany’s current world number one Angelique Kerber. Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki said the Stuttgart tournament’s decision to grant Sharapova a wildcard is “disrespectful to other players and the WTA”.However, Sharapova could not have picked a better place to make her return.She has won the Stuttgart clay-court tournament three times and lost just once - to Kerber in 2015 in the first-round.The Russian can expect a warm welcome from the organisers as she is an ambassador for luxury car manufacturers Porsche, who sponsor the Stuttgart tournament. Also in the Stern interview, Sharapova again hit out at the ITF - especially the boss of their anti-doping programme Stuart Miller - for failing to warn her before meldonium was added to the banned list.“He didn’t want to know anything about it,” she told Stern having also criticised the ITF last week in an interview with The Times.“And for me, that is proof that he didn’t do his job properly. At the ITF, they should make sure the athletes are informed about the new doping rules.“I take responsibility for my part, but there are other people who could have taken action. And they belong to the ITF.”Sharapova says she found it “incredibly difficult” to come to terms with her doping ban: “I felt very small and vulnerable”.Serena hints at pregnancy with ‘20 weeks’ postTennis great Serena Williams hinted Wednesday that she’s expecting her first child, posting a photo of herself on Snapchat captioned “20 weeks”.The photo, captured by US media, shows Williams in a yellow swimsuit with what appears to be a baby bump.Williams, 35, hasn’t played since beating her sister Venus in the final of the Australian Open in January to clinch a record 23rd Grand Slam singles title.She cited a knee injury in pulling out of tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami in March.In December she announced her engagement to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, first sharing that news on the Reddit social media site.