MONTE CARLO-- Former champion Stan Wawrinka rolled back the years to outlast Tallon Griekspoor 5-7 6-3 6-4 and reach the Monte Carlo Masters second round on Monday while Andy Murray's first appearance in the tournament since 2017 ended in a loss to Alex de Minaur. Wawrinka looked in danger of falling in his opener for a second straight year after losing a tight opening set, but the 38-year-old found a way back into the match by dominating the second and grabbed an early break in the decider. Griekspoor beat Wawrinka in their only previous meeting in 2018 and showed plenty of fight to level at 3-3 but surrendered his serve again to allow the Swiss veteran to surge ahead and close out the contest on his sixth matchpoint. "It was really important to stay calm with myself," said 2014 champion Wawrinka, the oldest man in this year's field. "In the first round you need to find your game. The first match on clay is never easy against a good player. I'm happy to get through. It was important to fight until the end." Up next for the three-times Grand Slam champion is world number 10 Taylor Fritz. "He's an amazing player," Wawrinka said of the American. "He's top 10, been winning a lot of matches. Winning a lot of tournaments. He's very dangerous on many surfaces." Murray gained direct entry into the prestigious tournament after several players including world number two Carlos Alcaraz and 11-times champion Rafa Nadal withdrew due to injuries. But the former world number one endured a torrid time in a rare appearance in a claycourt tournament due to hip injuries as he lost 6-1 6-3 to Australian De Minaur in 86 minutes. Thiem downs Gasquet Former U.S. Open champion Dominic Thiem beat French veteran Richard Gasquet 6-1 6-4 as the Austrian looks to revive his career following his slide out of the top 300 due to a wrist injury. Thiem, now ranked 106 in the world, had split with coach Nicolas Massu before the tournament, ending a partnership that lasted more than four years. But the 29-year-old looked like he was slowly getting back to his vintage best as the claycourt specialist won five games in a row at one stage while he did not face a single break point in the match. The victory, sealed with his sixth ace in the contest, also marked Thiem's first at a Masters tournament since Rome in 2021, weeks before the wrist injury that sidelined him for nine months. Thiem will next play Danish 19-year-old Holger Rune, who is ranked ninth in the world. World number one Novak Djokovic will return to the tour on Tuesday having been forced out of tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami last month after being denied special permission to enter the United States without a COVID-19 vaccination. The 22-times Grand Slam champion last played in early March in Dubai and has been ramping up his preparations on clay ahead of the French Open which begins next month. He will meet Russian qualifier Ivan Gakhov who beat American Mackenzie McDonald 7-6(6) 2-6 6-3. Francisco Cerundolo earlier stunned 11th seed Cameron Norrie 6-3 6-4 and will play Matteo Berrettini who downed Maxime Cressy 6-4 6-2 for his first win in the tournament.

TURIN, Italy-- Juventus and Inter Milan shared the spoils in an energetic 1-1 Coppa Italia semi-final first-leg draw on Tuesday, after a stoppage-time penalty by Romelu Lukaku cancelled out a late goal by Juve midfielder Juan Cuadrado. Juventus could have gone ahead through Angel Di Maria in the fourth minute but Inter keeper Samir Handanovic tipped away his low shot from the edge of the box. Inter, who could have scored in the 33rd minute when Marcelo Brozovic's shot was saved by Juve keeper Mattia Perin, dominated possession in a lively first half. Shortly after the break Juventus forward Dusan Vlahovic tried to surprise Handanovic with a close-range header from a stunning, lofted pass by Nicolo Fagioli but the attempt by Serbia forward went just over the bar. Henrikh Mkhitaryan could have made it 1-0 for the visitors in the 64th minute with a powerful low shot towards the far post but he missed the target by centimetres. Cuadrado gave the record 14-times winners the lead in the 83rd when he collected a loose ball inside the box and sent it into the bottom left corner after Inter defender Alessandro Bastoni had unsuccessfully tried to clear it off the line. When it seemed that the game would end with a first-leg advantage for the home side, a handball by Juventus defender Gleison Bremer gifted the visitors a spot kick, flawlessly executed by Lukaku who sent Perin the wrong way. The Belgian striker's celebration in front of the Juve fans was judged to be provocative and he was sent off after a second yellow card, while Inter captain Handanovic and Cuadrado also got red cards immediately after the final whistle. "Tonight I saw the boys very angry about this draw but we have to be good at accepting it," Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri told Mediaset. "In the first half we were a little too slow. When they had the ball we waited for them; in the second half we applied more pressure." Cremonese host Fiorentina in the second semi-final on Wednesday. The second-leg games will be played on April 26 and 27.

AUGUSTA, Georgia-- LIV Golf narrowly missed out on its first win of Masters week as Bubba Watson finished one shot behind Tom Hoge in the Par-3 Contest on Wednesday at Augusta National and in a share of second place. Twice Masters champion Watson, buoyed by a one-hop ace at the fourth hole, finished at five-under-par 22 on the short, nine-hole layout that is the site of one of the most beloved traditions at Augusta National. The 44-year-old Watson will make his first Masters start since he joined LIV Golf last July when he and 17 others from the Saudi-backed circuit tee off in Thursday's opening round of the year's first major. "Keep hitting the ball well," Watson said on Wednesday after the Par-3 Contest when asked about his aspirations for the rest of the week, which has plenty of rain in the forecast. "I was hitting the short irons well on the Par-3 here. Been hitting it good all week. With the weather coming in, nobody knows what's going to happen." Perhaps Watson can take comfort in falling short of the Par-3 title given that winning the fun-filled event, where players can use friends and family as caddies, has proven to be a bad luck omen for the main Masters tournament. Since its inception in 1960, no Par-3 Contest winner has won the Masters the same year. Ireland's Seamus Power finished the Par-3 Contest in style as he hit back-to-back aces on the final two holes of the short course. There were five holes-in-one on Wednesday, bringing the all-time total to 106.

LIVERPOOL, England-- Michael Keane scored a thrilling last-gasp goal to lift Everton to a 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur on Monday, a big boost for the team's desperate battle to avoid relegation.