9am Briefing: Celtic linked with bid to lure Boyd away from Rangers

Reports suggest Parkhead chiefs are willing to pay Boyd 30,000 a week with Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell ready to splash out a 1 million signing-on fee to persuade the player to turn his back on the Gers and sign for their biggest rivals.

Lawwell has been in touch with the player's camp over the last week and is likely to continue his pursuit of prolific striker Boyd.

Rangers goal machine Boyd, 26, will, of course, be fully aware of the repercussions of agreeing to swap the Light Blues for the Hoops.

If Celtic were to pull off the daring swoop it would be the most sensational Old Firm transfer since Mo Johnston snubbed the Hoops and joined Gers instead in 1989.

The player, who scored 26 goals for the SPL champions last season, is available on a free transfer.

Boyd is believed to have felt undervalued at Ibrox in recent seasons as the salaries dished out to stars like Steven Davis and Pedro Mendes dwarfed those of the man who broke Celtic icon Henrik Larsson's SPL scoring record.

The striker is on the wanted list of Turkish side Kayserispor as well as Premier League outfit Birmingham, managed by his old boss Alex McLeish.

Murray comeback avoids defeat

ANDY MURRAY produced a repeat of his epic Wimbledon comeback against Richard Gasquet to avoid crashing out of the French Open in the first round.

Murray's nightmare draw looked like living up to its billing when Gasquet led by two sets and a break on Suzanne Lenglen Court.

But, as in their last meeting in the fourth round at SW19 two years ago, the infamously fragile Frenchman suffered a spectacular collapse as fourth seed Murray won 4-6, 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 in four hours and four minutes.

Meanwhile, a spirited second-set display was not enough for Elena Baltacha as she lost out to eighth seed Agnieszka Radwanska in the first round.

A tough draw for the Scot, who was making her main draw debut at Roland Garros, was emphasised in a 24-minute first set in which she did not win a game.

Memories of Anne Keothavong's 'double bagel' 6-0, 6-0 defeat by Dinara Safina last year came flooding back but Baltacha was far from finished.

The world No.62 got on the board with two consecutive games and from then on it was nip and tuck.

But Baltacha could not take advantage of a break-point chance at 5-5 and, despite coming back from 0-40 down in the next game, it was not enough as she fell to a 6-0 7-5 defeat.

Baltacha's loss, which followed Keothavong's on Sunday, means Katie O'Brien, who faces Jill Craybas today, is the last remaining British woman in the draw.