Muster’s Streak Ends at 40 Matches on Clay

Thomas Muster, undefeated in 40 consecutive tennis matches on clay, skipped the grass of Wimbledon to rest and concentrate on preparing for a clay-court event at Gstaad, Switzerland, in which he was top-seeded.

He might as well have tried the grass.

Muster’s streak on clay, the third-longest in history for a men’s player, was ended in 90 minutes by Alex Corretja, 7-5, 6-1, in the first round of the Swiss Open.

“I was well prepared for the tournament and played well during training,” Muster said. “Playing Corretja in the first round was a very unlucky draw.”

Corretja is ranked 22nd in the world and is the highest-ranked player Muster could have played in the first round.

Muster’s streak, which included seven tournament championships, trailed only Guillermo Vilas’ 53 matches and Bjorn Borg’s 44.

In another surprise, fifth-seeded Alberto Berasategui was upset by Lionel Roux, 3-6, 6-7 (7-4).

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Hot-tempered Jeff Tarango has withdrawn from the Swiss Open for fear of a confrontation with an angry Marc Rosset, tournament officials said.

At Wimbledon, Tarango had accused French umpire Bruno Rebeuh of being “the most corrupt official in the game” and stormed off the court during his third-round match against Alexander Mronz. Tarango’s wife, Benedicte, then slapped the official twice.

Tarango alleged that Rebeuh had shown bias to players in return for friendship, naming Rosset.

“I take this as an insult,” Rosset said.

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Defending champion Bernd Karbacher beat Mikael Pernfors, 6-1, 7-5, in the opening round of the Swedish Open in Bastad, where second-seeded Gilbert Schaller and eighth-seeded Anders Jarryd were upset.

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Top-seeded Karin Habsudovan defeated Sandra Dopfer, 6-2, 6-3, in the opening round of the Palermo Grand Prix women’s tournament in Sicily.

Football

Maryland starting quarterback Scott Milanovich and four other university athletes were suspended by the NCAA for gambling on college sporting events.

The NCAA ruled that football players Jermaine Lewis, Jaron Hairston and Farad Hall will miss one regularly scheduled game.

Matt Raydo, a reserve on the basketball team, was suspended for the first 20 games of the 1995-96 season.

Four of the five players involved in the suspensions agreed to allow the school to release their names. A fifth--a football player given an eight-game suspension--refused to grant his permission.

That player, according to a school source, is Milanovich, a senior who owns many of the school’s all-time passing records.

None of the athletes bet on Maryland games or took any action to affect the point-spread of Maryland games, athletic director Debbie Yow said.

All-Pro defensive end Charles Haley, 31, who retired after the Dallas Cowboys lost to the San Francisco 49ers, 38-28, in the NFC title game, then changed his mind, has received a four-year contract extension with the Cowboys for $12 million.

The Oakland Raiders will play their Aug. 25 exhibition game against the New England Patriots at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto because the Oakland Athletics have a home game that day.

Miscellany

A body believed to be that of Ramesh Mali, a 21-year-old retarded Special Olympics athlete from Nepal, was found at the beach in Madison, Conn., where he apparently drowned four days earlier.

The New Jersey Devils and the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority held talks into this morning, drawing nearer to an agreement on a new lease that would keep the Stanley Cup champions in the state.

Maria Mutola of Mozambique missed the world record by 0.05 seconds, running 2 minutes 30.72 seconds in winning the women’s 1,000 meters, and Michael Johnson turned in a 20.15-second 200 meters in the DN Games Grand Prix track and field meet in Stockholm.

The Fukuoka Daiei Hawks of Japanese baseball have sent officials to meet Kevin Mitchell in Los Angeles and find out whether he has recovered from a knee injury and can return to the team.

Jurisprudence

Police in Plantation, Fla., say two shots were fired in the death of Charles Blades, the cousin of Seattle Seahawk wide receiver Brian Blades, last Wednesday and Sgt. Mike Price added, “It’s nearly impossible in an accident situation for a gun to go off twice, so it brings on new concerns.”

Price also said Brian Blades was the owner of the gun, but police are still uncertain who was holding it at the time of the shooting.

World Boxing Organization super flyweight champion Johnny Tapia pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, battery and evading a police officer in connection with a June 7 dispute involving his wife, Teresa, at the couple’s home in Albuquerque, N.M.

Names in the News

Right wing Kevin Dineen signed a new contract with the Philadelphia Flyers. . . . The NCAA has decided that guard Stephon Marbury’s amateur status was not violated when the Georgia Tech recruit was given a car by the director of an amateur basketball program in New York. . . . Philip Mathews, the men’s basketball coach at Ventura College the last 10 seasons, will be named the University of San Francisco coach today. . . . Francis (Reds) Bagnell, a member of the College Football Hall of Fame as a single-wing tailback from 1947-50 at Pennsylvania, died of cardiac arrest at 66 in Philadelphia.