Ilie Nastase apologises for Fed Cup row, but still blames GB

Ilie Nastase has delivered a partial apology for his disgraceful behaviour during last weekend's Fed Cup tie in Constanta, but continued to claim that he had been pushed over the edge by the conduct of his British opponents.

Nastase is serving a provisional ban while the International Tennis Federation decides upon its response to his actions, which included throwing the insult "F---ing bitches" at Britain's top player, Johanna Konta, and team captain, Anne Keothavong.

Writing on his Facebook page, Nastase said: "The last few days have been difficult for me... I am fully aware that nothing can truly excuse my statements - not the tension of a high-stakes game, not my traditionally irreverent attitude, not the unfortunate escalation of the situation... so please accept my apologies, for whatever they may be worth right now."

But then came the self-defence, and renewed criticism of the British team and ITF officials. "What happened in Constanta has been exaggerated by all," Nastase wrote. "Joanna [sic] Konta had no right to speak to the chairman [umpire], the team captain is the only one who can do this. I asked the chairman for some explanations in a civilised manner, but he sent me to the stand. In the stand, they withdrew my status as captain of the Romanian team and I became a simple spectator. After this, the referee suspended the match. I do not understand why he did it and based on what point from the regulation?"

Meanwhile, Maria Sharapova is only one win away from ending much of the speculation over her participation in the next two grand slams. Should she beat Kiki Mladenovic, of France, in today's semi-final of the Porsche Open in Stuttgart, she will earn a place in the qualifying tournaments at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

Mladenovic happens to have been one of the rivals who was most critical of Sharapova in the early days after the original confession.

Having beaten the Estonian qualifier Anett Kontaveit yesterday by a 6-3, 6-4 margin, Sharapova reacted with blithe unconcern when asked about the significant anti-doping upgrade announced yesterday by the ITF, which will raise the number of annual samples from just under 5,000 to around 8,000. "Yeah, great," was Sharapova's response.

In Barcelona, Andy Murray came close to being beaten by world No.19 Albert Ramos-Vinolas for the second time in as many tournaments. Murray's serving was alarmingly inaccurate in the first two sets, when he was landing his first delivery only around a third of the time. But he fought through a deciding tie-break for a 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 victory in three hours.