Earlier on the day, Damir Dzumhur notched up his first victory of 2019 when he outwitted third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4 1-6 7-5 in an opening round match.
* Juan Carlos Osorio has resigned as Paraguay coach only five months into the job, having led his side in just one friendly match. The Colombian was appointed in September after three years in charge of Mexico and coached his new team to a 1-1 draw with South Africa in November.
* Former world number one Maria Sharapova will miss next month's BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells due to a right shoulder injury, organisers said on Wednesday. The shoulder problem had also forced the 31-year-old to withdraw from her second-round match in St Petersburg, Russia last month.
* Inter Milan's leading scorer Mauro Icardi does not to want to play in their Europa League match against Rapid Vienna on Thursday after being stripped of the club captaincy, coach Luciano Spalletti said on Wednesday. Spalletti said the "difficult and painful" decision was made to remove the captaincy because the protracted negotiations over a possible extension of Icardi's contract were distracting the player and the team.
* Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp was charged by the English Football Association on Wednesday over comments he made about the referee after his side's 1-1 draw with West Ham United in the Premier League on Feb. 4. The German manager said referee Kevin Friend's performance was affected by the decision to allow Sadio Mane's opening goal, which should have been ruled out for offside.
* West Ham United midfielder Declan Rice has announced on Wednesday his intention to continue his international career with England, after having previously played for Ireland. Rice, 20, was capped three times by Ireland, but all of his appearances were in friendlies, which allows him to swap his international allegiance to the country of his birth.
* UEFA has opened disciplinary proceedings against Manchester United after a bottle was thrown at Paris St Germain winger Angel Di Maria during Tuesday's Champions League last-16 tie at Old Trafford. Di Maria was booed from the outset by the United supporters before a beer bottle was thrown from the crowd towards him in the second half, which he picked up and pretended to take a swig from.
* Golf's biggest prize will be awarded at the European Tour's season finale in Dubai as part of changes to the final three Rolex Series events announced on Wednesday. The winner of the DP World Tour Championship will now pocket a cheque for $3 million, a jump from the $1.33 million won by Englishman Danny Willett last year.
* Red Bull unveiled their first Honda-powered Formula One car on Wednesday with Max Verstappen driving the initial laps at Silverstone. The team published images of the RB15 online with what it said was a temporary livery for filming before testing starts in Spain on Monday.
* Formula One champions Mercedes ran their new car for the first time at Silverstone on Wednesday with title holder Lewis Hamilton saying he felt 2019 could turn out even better than last season.
* Revenues for Bundesliga's top two divisions in 2017-18 rose by over 10 percent year-on-year to 4.42 billion euros (US$5 billion), marking the 14th consecutive year of growth, the German Football League said in its annual report on Wednesday. The DFL said revenues for the top two divisions in 2016-17 was 4.01 billion euros while overall revenues have more than doubled in the last decade.
* Robert Beric earned Saint-Etienne all three points with one goal and one assist in a 2-1 home win against Strasbourg, while Nantes took on a late penalty to shrug off struggling side Caen 1-0 in the rearranged 23rd round matches in Ligue 1 on Wednesday.
* World No. 5 Karolina Pliskova announced to withdraw from the injury-hit Qatar Open on Wednesday, citing an excuse of "not feeling great."
