ANDY Murray has been given a walkover into the third round of the Barcelona Open after Bernard Tomic pulled out with a back problem.
Murray had been due to face the Australian yesterday lunchtime having been given a bye in the first round.
But shortly before the start of play the tournament announced that Tomic, who defeated Dustin Brown in three sets in the first round, had withdrawn.
Although it is positive news on the surface for Murray, the world No 1 entered the tournament to get more matches under his belt as he works his way back from an elbow injury.
The Scot returned to action last week in Monte Carlo after more than a month on the sidelines but, having beaten Gilles Muller in his opening match, lost to Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
Murray will play the winner of a clash between Spaniards Albert Montanes and Feliciano Lopez in the third round.
British number three Dan Evans is also through to the third round after picking up his first ATP Tour wins on clay and will face fourth seed Dominic Thiem today.
Johanna Konta, meanwhile, put a difficult weekend behind her to reach the second round of the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart.
The British No 1 travelled to Germany from Constanta, where she left the court in tears and was accused of gamesmanship during Great Britain’s fiery Fed Cup play-off against Romania.
Konta did not find things easy against teenager Naomi Osaka but took advantage of her opponent’s physical struggles to run away with the third set and triumph 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 6-1.
Konta had not dropped a set in two previous meetings with 19-year-old Osaka but clay is her weakest surface.
The world No 7 struggled for consistency in the opening two sets but the key moment came when she saved two break points in the third game of the third set.
Konta broke the Osaka serve in the next game and did not look back, with the Japanese-American becoming increasingly bothered by an abdominal injury.
Konta will face Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova in the second round.
The 25-year-old said on BT Sport: “I think obviously you could tell she was struggling, I hope everything is okay with her and she recovers quickly.
“It was just important for me to stay on my own game. Even though I lost the second set I didn’t feel like I did much wrong.”
Elsewhere, Aljaz Bedene won his 14th straight match, beating Robin Haase to reach the quarter-finals of the Hungarian Open.
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