Mercedes boss Toto Wolff will be absent from the next Formula One race in Japan, the PA news agency has learned.

It is understood that Wolff’s decision to miss the race in Suzuka on April 7 was taken before the start of the new season and is not connected to the team’s performance in Australia.

Wolff admitted after Sunday’s race at Melbourne’s Albert Park that it is “fair” to question his future as team principal following Mercedes’ troubling weekend.

Lewis Hamilton qualified only 11th and the worst start to his 18-season career was confirmed when his engine expired on lap 17, while team-mate George Russell was seventh when he crashed out.

Wolff, who lives in Monaco, will be on the intercom remotely throughout the race weekend in Japan – with his duties at the circuit to be divided between senior members of the Brackley team.

The Austrian also missed last year’s Japanese GP and the ensuing round in Qatar, following knee surgery. On those occasions the team’s driver development director Jerome d’Ambrosio was handed the effective on-site team principal baton.

But it emerged earlier this month that D’Ambrosio is set to end his association with the team when his contract expires at the end of the season.

Wolff admitted in an interview with the PA news agency last year that he intends to scale back his on-track presence in the coming years.

The 52-year-old, who has been in charge of Mercedes since 2013, recently signed a new three-year deal to remain as chief executive and team principal of the F1 operation he co-owns with Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ola Kallenius.

Mercedes won an unprecedented eight consecutive constructors’ titles between 2014 and 2021 but they have tasted just one victory from their last 48 outings.

Fresh from his harrowing accident in Melbourne, Russell is expected to be at the team’s HQ in Northamptonshire later this week as Mercedes search for solutions to their underwhelming start to the season.

Russell failed to make it to the end of Sunday’s race after hitting the wall on the penultimate lap in his pursuit of Fernando Alonso.

The double world champion was adjudged to have driven dangerously by the stewards and was demoted from sixth to eighth following a post-race 20-second penalty.

However, the 42-year-old protested his innocence in a message posted on social media.

Alonso wrote: “A bit surprised by a penalty at the end of the race regarding how we should approach the corners or how we should drive the race cars. At no point do we want to do anything wrong at these speeds.

“I believe that without gravel on that corner, on any other corner in the world we will never be even investigated.

“In F1, with over 20 years of experience, changing racing lines, sacrificing entry speed to have good exits from corners is part of the art of motorsport.

“We never drive at 100 per cent every race lap and every corner, we save fuel, tyres, brakes, so being responsible for not making every lap the same is a bit surprising. We have to accept it and think about Japan, to have more pace and fight for positions further up the field.”

Promising fillies Queen Of Zafeen and Star Music will put their Classic credentials to the test next month, with Richard Hughes confident he has some smart operators to unleash during the 2024 season.

Both fillies are owned by Jaber Abdullah and hold entries in the Qipco 1000 Guineas, but the Weathercock House handler may look outside of Newmarket depending on how the duo perform in their respective trials.

Queen Of Zafeen was last seen being narrowly denied in Lingfield’s Spring Cup and after a rapid rise through the ranks, she will tackle Newmarket’s Lanwades Stud Nell Gwyn Stakes before connections consider whether to challenge for a version of the Guineas home or abroad.

“It was a shame she didn’t go and win the Spring Cup and she was only beat on the line, but I suppose two colts were beside her,” said Hughes.

“I’m probably going to run her in the Nell Gwyn because she has no experience on grass and it has all happened a bit quick for her really.

“She will have had a nice break from the Spring Cup to the Nell Gwyn and I’m kind of thinking the German 1000 Guineas rather than the English Guineas, but we will let her do the talking first.”

Star Music will also be in action that week with the Oh So Sharp Stakes third set for action in the Dubai Duty Free Stakes – better known as the Fred Darling – at Newbury on April 20.

The form of her placed effort behind Dance Sequence and Skellet has already been franked by the fourth Chic Colombine this year and with connections of that rival hinting at a French 1000 Guineas bid, the daughter of Zoustar may end up joining George Boughey’s filly in the starting stalls at ParisLongchamp.

“She will go for the Fred Darling and a theory I have, which might be wrong, is that Zoustars prefer a really flat track,” continued Hughes.

“They are a bit like Exceed And Excels and just seem to act better when it is really flat.

“She was particularly impressive when she won at Kempton but I just feel Newmarket might not be her track, even though she ran a blinder in the Oh So Sharp. I might think of Longchamp for her if she runs well in her trial.”

Hughes is also holding plenty of hope for Derby entrant Kamboo, who is set for an early season appearance in the bet365 Feilden Stakes at Newmarket, while the former champion jockey turned trainer feels he is entering the season with some real talent at his disposal.

“Kamboo is one for the Feilden and is showing up well at home,” added Hughes.

“It’s all a bit undecided at the moment but it’s the first time I’ve had a handful of Group horses in my yard.

“Normally we have one that is a hopeful, but this time I’m pretty confident I have four or five to go to war with, which is pretty good for a small-enough string.

“I’m a bit of a realist and Lizzie (Hughes, wife) says I’m negative at times. It’s just this year I know I have nice horses to go to war with, so it’s been a little bit different in the spring.

“Now they are running so well it is a bonus – everything we seem to be running at the moment is winning or going close, so it’s going really well.”

Annaf will miss out on the chance to supplement his recent Saudi Arabian success on Dubai World Cup Night having met with a setback in transit.

Mick Appleby’s five-year-old enjoyed a fine 2023 season and having signed off with big wins at both Doncaster and Ascot, he has picked up from where he left off this term, going close in the Kachy Stakes before striking gold in the $2million Saudi National Bank 1351 Turf Sprint in Riyadh last month.

The son of Muhaarar was in line to seek an international double in Meydan’s Al Quoz Sprint on Saturday, but having picked up a respiratory illness on the flight over to Dubai, will now return to Appleby’s Oakham base to be prepared for a domestic campaign centred around a trip to Royal Ascot.

Appleby said: “He got taken ill on the flight over, but it is not life threatening or anything and he’s hopefully going to be fine, it’s just prevented him from running.

“It’s a shame but it’s a risk you take when they are flying a fair bit. He came home after Saudi and was heading back out so maybe it was just a bit too much for him.

“He should be fine and the vets out in Dubai in the hospital are happy with him – he should be fine to come back home when the other one (Roberto Escobarr) does.

“We’ll probably get him ready for Ascot now, that will probably be the main aim.”

The Royal meeting could also feature on the agenda for Appleby’s leading light Big Evs who is being readied for his three-year-old season.

The son of Blue Point excelled as a juvenile, winning top-quality two-year-old races at home before giving his team a day to remember when winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Santa Anita.

His handler is keen to keep his high-class speedster to five furlongs for the early part of the season, which would see ideas of the Commonwealth Cup put on the backburner for now. However, he does concede six-furlong contests will enter the equation at some stage.

Appleby continued: “He’s great and has wintered really well. He’s not far off being ready to run, we just need to decide where we are going to run.

“The obvious race (to target) would have been the Commonwealth Cup, but that is six furlongs and we don’t really want to try him over six first time back, so we’re not really sure where we will start back. The weather is not helping and it’s raining again here now.

“I think in the early season we will definitely be sticking to five furlongs. We’re obviously going to have to try him at six at some point and the way he won at Goodwood on that heavy ground, you would say he would stay the six.”

England captain Harry Kane has resumed light training with Bayern Munich after being released from the national squad ahead of Tuesday’s friendly against Belgium.

Kane suffered an ankle injury in Bayern’s Bundesliga victory over Darmstadt earlier this month and missed England’s loss to Brazil at Wembley on Saturday.

The 30-year-old was allowed to return to his club to continue his recovery and the German outfit published photographs on Monday of the striker participating in an individual fitness and ball work session.

Kane, who has 89 England caps, is the country’s record goalscorer with 62.

The former Tottenham striker has also proved a successful signing for Bayern and is currently the Bundesliga’s leading scorer with 31 goals in what is his first season at the club.

Emily Campbell believes giving back to the community that supported her Olympic dreams is more important than winning another medal in Paris.

The 29-year-old became Britain’s first female Olympic medallist in weightlifting when she claimed silver in the +87 kilograms category in Tokyo in 2021.

She will bid for more success in Paris this summer, but Campbell is just as excited about the new ChangeMaker initiative, which will see Olympic and Paralympic stars get involved in local community causes in the two weeks after their respective Games.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Team GB (@teamgb)

The programme is a partnership between The National Lottery’s operator, Allwyn, Team GB, ParalympicsGB and UK Sport, and Campbell told the PA news agency: “We’re going to use the amazing momentum and excitement and buzz from the Games to motivate athletes to go back into their community and to do anything that they’re really passionate about.

“It could be to do with sport, it could be to do with environment, whatever they feel they can make a difference in. It’s all really, really exciting.”

Campbell’s success is very much rooted in the Nottinghamshire town of Bulwell where she grew up, and she admits she is “torn” about which project she will support.

“There’s a lot of good things going on and it’s probably going to be hard for me to pick but I’ll probably just be out there trying to help as many as I can,” she said.

“Everyone says it takes a village to raise a child, right, and it takes a community to make an Olympic medallist. That’s what my community did for me, from giving me free fruit and veg to supporting me when I was trying to raise money, the cobbler fixing my boots, the list goes on and on and on.

“Everybody goes to the Olympics and everybody wants a medal but for me now it’s more about giving back and being a part of something that actually means something.

“Instead of sitting there and saying ‘I’m an inspiration and I want to be a role model’, it’s about putting your money where your mouth is and getting it done. And you never know, we might find another little Olympic champion somewhere.”

Campbell’s dream of opening a gym in Nottingham focused on youth and development will have to wait until after her career is over, and there will be many more medals still to come if she can maintain the consistency she has shown since Tokyo.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Emily Campbell (@emilyjade_gb)

Silver and bronze medals have followed at world level while she has won the European title for four years in a row and Commonwealth gold on home soil in Birmingham in 2022.

Having a platform has enabled Campbell not just to recognise the support given to her but to “shout” about a linked passion, showing women and girls that sport and exercise is for everyone and changing perceptions of what healthy looks like.

Three years on from her Olympic breakthrough, Campbell is encouraged but not satisfied, saying: “We’re getting there. I wouldn’t say that it’s completely changed, I wouldn’t say we’re where we need to be but people hopefully are listening – I’ve definitely shouted enough about it.

“You are seeing now a lot more of an inclusive space within the fitness industry. Brands are starting to do the right thing. This all filters back down to what our young people see. They want to see people that represent them, that look like them, and that encourages them to get involved.

“It’s always going to be an ongoing battle and, as long as I’ve got a voice and people can hear me, I’m going to shout about it.”

Campbell is made aware of the impact her words and actions have every day through messages and interactions, and she said: “It’s actually overwhelming sometimes. I want to say I do see everything that comes into my inbox but as you can imagine it is (busy) in there.

“The amount of people that have said they’ve started lifting, or they’ve lost X amount of weight or they’ve started doing a certain dance class, or they’ve just done something that they feel has made a positive impact on their life.

“People do stop me in the street as well, it’s absolutely amazing and I can’t thank everybody enough for the support.”

Forward Plan will bid for a third big pot of the season at the Grand National meeting in April.

Anthony Honeyball admits to have been taken aback by just how effective the eight-year-old has been this term, winning a good prize at Doncaster and then being beaten a nose in the Great Yorkshire Chase before winning the £150,000 Coral Trophy at Kempton.

He now has his sights set on the £100,000 William Hill Handicap Chase on Grand National day at Aintree, April 13, a race the yard has fond memories of.

“Forward Plan goes to Aintree for the race Sam Brown won two years ago,” said Honeyball.

“When Sam won it it was the race before the National so we had an hour in the winning connections room, but the only thing was we probably didn’t get much exposure as they went straight into the build-up for the National!

“Forward Plan has been a cracking little horse, he’s picked up about £120,000. We’ve dared to dream chucking him in big handicaps and he has kept on delivering.

“Last season we thought he had won his Gold Cup in a £20,000 race at Southwell but he has just improved and improved this season.

“The Badger Ales was a good place to start but the ground was softer than he liked, then he won a nice race at Doncaster and in between Doncaster and his Kempton wins he was beaten a nose in the Great Yorkshire Chase.

“Arguably the best ride Ben (Godfrey) has given him was that one too as everyone was sure the winner, Annual Invictus, had gone off too fast so he ignored him for much of the race, he beat the rest easily but to be fair to the winner he just found that little bit extra.

“The race at Kempton was worth more than the Ultima and there wasn’t one Irish entry. They probably think it comes too close to Cheltenham.

“He looked beaten two out, he’d lost his position down the back straight but he flew home. If he can win a third big pot it would be great, we’ll try and go to Aintree and if not it will be Punchestown.”

Frazer Clarke is ready to have the last laugh when he takes on Fabio Wardley for the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles on Sunday in what will be the biggest night of his professional career.

Olympic bronze medallist Clarke has been forced to bide his time for a shot at domestic rival Wardley after their prospective bout last year collapsed.

Clarke’s own team of 258 Management and promotion company Boxxer made the decision to withdraw the 32-year-old on the day of purse bids, which resulted in their fighter being at the centre of a social media storm.

After Clarke took criticism and ridicule from all directions “on the chin”, he regrouped to get the better of veteran Mariusz Wach on points last summer before he comprehensively dismantled Dave Allen in September to finally set up an eagerly-anticipated clash with Wardley at London’s O2 Arena on Easter Sunday.

“It wasn’t pleasant. Definitely wasn’t pleasant,” Clarke told the PA news agency about the purse bid episode.

“To go through that at that stage of my career, it felt unfair but I am a firm believer in dealing with things as they come to you.

“I just had to get on with it. I did that and didn’t really complain too much. I got a lot of stick from a lot of people but took it on the chin. Got on with things. I had a couple of bad weeks but after that I was fine and we moved on.”

Clarke (8-0, 6KOs) conceded facing 48-fight veteran Wach at York Hall months after he was in line to compete for the British title proved to be the “biggest anti-climax ever”, while even Allen failed to “get the juices flowing” for the Stoke-on-Trent boxer.

However, motivation will be no problem when the 32-year-old steps in with Wardley, 29, after several social media exchanges between the duo who have been on a collision course since the latter beat one of Clarke’s old Olympic programme team-mates.

“I was at the Nathan Gorman fight. I watched that with keen interest and the second he became British champion, I thought one day I will end up fighting him,” Clarke said.

“I would say a rivalry is the right word. I wouldn’t say it’s a grudge because I have got no issue with Fabio.

“We’ve had a bit of back and forth, but that’s just the nature of the beast. It is all part and parcel of the game.

“The rivalry is definitely there. I would say it is a competitive rivalry rather than anything else.”

A subplot to this domestic dust-up is the pair’s upbringing, with Clarke steeped in boxing tradition after he progressed through the British Olympic programme, while Wardley’s first venture into the sport was through white-collar fights.

Nevertheless, Clarke acknowledged he is the underdog against an opponent who has won all 17 of his professional fights, but is ready to lean on his amateur pedigree and silence the critics after a “brutal” fight camp.

A post shared by Frazer Clarke (@frazerclarke)

He added: “Physically, emotionally, it’s been hard, draining but I feel like I’m coming out the other end.

“As a professional, this is definitely by far the biggest night of my life and everything will go into this.

“I’m motivated, I’m up for it and I’m really enjoying this underdog mentality.

“Having people against me, having people expecting me to get flattened, it will be sweet to prove people wrong.”

What the papers say

Manchester City are the latest club to track Everton defender Jarrad Branthwaite, according to the Daily Mail. They join city rivals Manchester United, Tottenham and Real Madrid in following the 21-year-old.

United have also been linked with another defender in the summer. The Daily Mail says they could make a bid for Senegal youngster Mikayil Faye, 19, from Barcelona.

The Daily Star says Scott McTominay is going nowhere, despite being linked with a move away from Old Trafford. The club plan to offer the Scotland midfielder, 27, an improved contract.

Midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White, 24, is being watched by Arsenal, reports the Daily Star. He may be available as Nottingham Forest look to balance their books.

Social media round-upPlayers to watch

Conor Gallagher: Tottenham are looking to make a summer bid in excess of £30million for Chelsea’s England midfielder, reports Football Insider.

Mason Greenwood: Juventus are looking at the Manchester United forward, 22, who is on loan at Getafe in Spain, according to Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport.

Sir Chris Hoy was crowned world champion for a 10th time on this day in 2010 as he triumphed in the Keirin at the Track Cycling World Championships in Copenhagen.

A crash in the first heat threatened to wreck Hoy’s plans, but he managed to regroup to qualify for the final.

Azizulhasni Awang pushed Olympic champion Hoy all the way before the British rider edged home to claim his second medal of the Championships.

Hoy had already clinched bronze in the team sprint at the Ballerup Super Arena, but crashed out in qualifying for the Keirin.

Josiah Ng Onn Lam had blocked Hoy, who went on to fall and take out another rider, which caused the race to stop.

Ng was later disqualified and after Hoy progressed through to the final, the Scot had to bide his time before he gained the lead during the final lap-and-a-half to taste success in his first major global event since his triple Olympic success in 2008.

“I certainly didn’t enjoy being bumped on my backside at the start of my first race – that was a bit out of order,” Hoy said.

“It made me angry but I had to keep my emotions in check because I didn’t want the red mist to descend.

“It’s even more special to be back here again where I won my first world title in 2002.

“I would never have predicted then that I would be coming back here in eight years time, let alone to win a 10th title. I’m delighted.”

Tobias Harris and Tyrese Maxey each had 24 points as the Philadelphia 76ers got back on track with Sunday's 121-107 win over the Los Angeles Clippers in the teams' first meeting since November's James Harden trade.

Harden's tumultuous 21-month tenure with the 76ers came to an end when Philadelphia shipped the disgruntled star guard to Los Angeles shortly after the start of this season. The 10-time All-Star dished out 14 assists against his former team, but was held to 12 points on 5-of-13 shooting.

The Sixers started fast and never trailed en route to ending a two-game losing streak, though Los Angeles erased a 17-point first-half deficit to tie the contest midway through the third quarter.

Philadelphia regained control behind a 6-0 run to take a 79-73 lead with five minutes left in the third quarter, then later scored 13 consecutive points in the fourth to open up a commanding 103-85 advantage with eight minutes to go.

Maxey accounted for 10 points during that pivotal spurt and scored 19 of his points after half-time.

Harris tallied 11 first-quarter points and Kelly Oubre Jr. added 10 as the Sixers built a 41-29 lead after 12 minutes, and Philadelphia stretched the margin further in the second before the Clippers closed out the first half on a 10-0 run to pull within 63-56 at intermission.

Los Angeles continued to chip away early in the third quarter and tied the game at 65-65 on a Paul George 3-pointer 2:14 into the second half.

Kawhi Leonard and Norman Powell paced the Clippers, who were coming off consecutive wins over the lowly Portland Trail Blazers, with 20 points each.

Bucks knock Thunder out of West's top spot with rout

Giannis Antetokounmpo racked up 30 points and a season-high 19 rebounds, Khris Middleton amassed a triple-double and the Milwaukee Bucks rolled to a dominant 118-93 victory over Oklahoma City that knocked the Thunder out of first place in the Western Conference.

Playing with their core three of Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard and Middleton together for the first time since Feb. 3, the Bucks held Oklahoma City to its lowest point and field goal percentage (37.1) totals of the season to increase their lead on the second-place Cleveland Cavaliers to three games in the Central Division.

The Thunder had a four-game winning streak halted and dropped a half-game behind the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets for the West's best record.

Middleton compiled 11 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for his second career triple-double, while Antetokounmpo scored 11 of his points in the third quarter as Milwaukee began pulling away after holding a slim 48-47 edge at half-time.

Seven of Antetokounmpo's points came during a 16-0 run that turned a one-point advantage into a 68-51 lead just past the midway stage of the third quarter. 

The Bucks didn't let up in the fourth, as they shot 63.6 per cent for the period while increasing their lead to as many as 26 points.

Josh Giddey led Oklahoma City with 19 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder's All-Star guard, was held to 12 points on 5-of-12 shooting and had a streak of 29 consecutive games of 20 points or more snapped.

Heat bounce back with dominant win over Cavaliers

The Cleveland Cavaliers lost ground to the Bucks in the Central race with a lopsided loss to the Miami Heat, who had seven players score in double figures to cruise to a 121-84 blowout win.

Miami rebounded strongly from Friday's 23-point home loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, as the defending Eastern Conference champions built a lead as large as 45 points while getting contributions all throughout the roster.

The Heat received 59 points from their reserves, led by Haywood Highsmith's 18 on 7-of-10 shooting, as well as a 15-point, 16-rebound effort from starting center Bam Adebayo to end a three-game losing streak at home.

Cleveland got 15 points from Evan Mobley in the forward's return from a nine-game absence caused by a sprained ankle. No other Cavaliers' players reached double figures, however, as the injury-plagued club was dealt a third straight loss. 

The Heat shot nearly 58 per cent from the field in the first quarter to build a 32-22 lead, then increased the margin during a second quarter that guard Terry Rozier closed with a buzzer-beating layup that sent Miami into the break owning a comfortable 60-39 advantage. 

Cleveland never got closer than 19 points down in the second half, and the Heat's lead swelled to 118-73 with 4:23 left to play.

Miami's 45-point lead was its largest margin in any game since a 46-point cushion over the Chicago Bulls in a 2013 play-off contest.

Jonathan Drouin's goal 54 seconds into overtime capped an improbable rally for the red-hot Colorado Avalanche, who increased their winning streak to nine games with Sunday's 5-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Avalanche trailed 4-0 late in the second period before erupting for five unanswered goals, the last coming when Drouin skated by Pittsburgh defenseman Kris Letang up the right side before slipping a shot past goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic less than a minute into extra time.

Drouin finished with two goals and an assist, while Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and two assists to extend his streak of consecutive home games with at least one point to 34, the second-longest run in NHL history.

While the Avalanche remained tied with the Dallas Stars atop the Central Division, the Penguins were dealt another blow to their fading play-off hopes with a third consecutive defeat. Pittsburgh currently stands in 13th place in the Eastern Conference and is now nine points behind in the race for the final wild-card spot.

Sean Walker and Yakov Trenin began Colorado's comeback with goals in the final four minutes of the second period, and Drouin cut Pittsburgh's lead to 4-3 when he one-timed a cross-ice pass from MacKinnon into the Penguins' net 3:32 into the third.

MacKinnon's 44th goal of the season later tied the contest with 4:38 remaining in regulation.

The Penguins dominated the first period, outshooting Colorado by a 15-4 margin and building a 2-0 lead on goals by Jesse Puljujarvi and Bryan Rust. They extended the margin to 4-0 when Sidney Crosby and Pierre-Olivier Joseph scored less than two minutes apart in the second.

Crosby finished with three assists in addition to his 34th goal of the season.

Nedeljkovic stopped 21 of 25 shots and briefly left the game in the third period after colliding with Colorado's Casey Mittelstadt. Tristan Jarry came on in relief and turned back 4 of 5 chances while surrendering MacKinnon's tying goal. 

Alexandar Georgiev finished with 30 saves for Colorado.

Oveckhin, Capitals continue surge with shutout of Jets

Alex Ovechkin extended his hot stretch with two more goals to back Charlie Lindgren's 27 saves as the Washington Capitals continued their climb in the Eastern Conference standings with a 3-0 win over the Winnipeg Jets.

John Carlson added a goal and T.J. Oshie contributed two assists to Washington's fifth victory in six games, a result that pushed the Capitals one point ahead of Detroit for the East's final wild-card spot. Washington hosts the Red Wings on Tuesday in an important late-season clash.

Both Lindgren and Winnipeg's Connor Hellebuyck were perfect through two periods, but the Capitals finally broke the scoreless stalemate when Carlson one-timed a feed from Oshie past the Jets' star netminder on a power play 1:21 into the third.

Ovechkin put Washington up 2-0 just over two minutes afterward, then beat Hellebuyck on a backhand attempt with eight minutes to go as the legendary forward increased his goal streak to five games. Oveckhin has eight goals during the run.

Lindgren had seven third-period saves to polish off his fifth shutout of the season and hand the scuffling Jets a third consecutive loss.

Hellebuyck ended with 16 saves.

Andersen sharp again as Hurricanes top Maple Leafs

Frederik Andersen made 32 saves to remain unbeaten since returning from injury as the Carolina Hurricanes held on for an important 2-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Andersen made first-period goals from Brady Skjei and Sebastian Aho stand up to win his sixth consecutive start since coming back from a blood-clotting issue that had sidelined him for four months.

The victory was the ninth in 11 games (9-1-1) for Carolina, which trails the New York Rangers by just one point for first place in the Eastern Conference.

Toronto had a two-game winning streak snapped despite 41 saves from Joseph Woll, who also turned back Jake Guentzel on a penalty shot in the first period.

Woll was beaten early, however, as Skjei scored on the Hurricanes' first shot of the game with just 1:06 elapsed into the contest.

Aho converted a power-play chance later in the first period to extend the margin, and Andersen made 20 saves through the first two periods before Toronto's Nicholas Robertson ended the shutout bid 8:51 into the third.

The Maple Leafs had an opportunity to tie it later on after Carolina defenseman Brent Burns was called for a tripping penalty with 3:15 remaining, but the Hurricanes were able to kill off the resulting power play.

Andy Murray raged at umpire Carlos Bernardes as he bowed out of the Miami Open following a dramatic three-set defeat to Tomas Machac.

Murray appeared to be furious with Bernardes for failing to control the movement of spectators around the Butch Buchholz court as he lost his serve at the end of the second set.

Machac then raced into a 3-0 lead in the decider and eventually closed out a 5-7 7-5 7-6 (7/5) victory in three hours and 27 minutes, but only after Murray  had survived an injury scare and saved a match point to force the tie-break.

Murray had taken the first set after finally capitalising on his ninth break point and, following a 40-minute rain delay, the second set looked destined for a tie-break until Murray lost his serve in the 12th game.

The 36-year-old’s frustrations with fans moving between points boiled over and he could be heard shouting to Bernardes: “Useless, useless.”

In response to an unheard reply from Bernardes, Murray responded: “What are you talking about? It’s quite obvious when people are standing up between every single point.”

It was no surprise that a distracted Murray then lost his serve at the start of the decider but Machac was unable to close out the match at 5-3, serving two double faults as he let Murray back into the contest.

Murray looked to have all the momentum but then seemed to twist his ankle as he ran towards the net after levelling at 5-5, the former world number one thankfully able to continue after being assessed by a tournament physio.

In typical fashion Murray refused to throw in the towel and saved a match point on his own serve to take the contest to a decisive tie-break which he led 5-3, only for Machac to reel off four points in a row to complete a remarkable win.

Elsewhere, Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner recovered from a set down to beat Tallon Griekspoor 5-7 7-5 6-1, but Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan caused a major upset as he knocked out world number seven Holger Rune 6-1 6-1.

“It is a great feeling to play at the highest level,” Marozsan said.

“I try to play my best tennis and today against a top 10 player and I am enjoying my time here. I try to play my best tennis.”