Moroccan Wild Card Aces Muster in Qatar Open

French Open champion Thomas Muster was upset in the semifinals of the Qatar Open tennis tournament Saturday, losing to unheralded Younes el Aynaoui of Morocco at Doha, Qatar.

El Aynaoui, ranked 110th in the world, defeated the Austrian No. 1 seed, 6-4, 6-4, and will play Petr Korda of the Czech Republic in today’s final. Korda defeated David Prinosil of Germany, 6-7 (4-7), 6-1, 6-3, in the other semifinal.

El Aynaoui, who has never won a pro title, got into the main draw of the $635,000 tournament as a wild card after the withdrawal of injured Henri Leconte.

Sandra Cacic of Bradenton, Fla., became the first qualifier in three years to win a WTA Tour event, beating second-seeded Barbara Paulus of Austria, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, in the final of the Amway Classic at Auckland, New Zealand.

Cacic, 113th in the world rankings, fought back from a 3-1 deficit in the third set to overcome the favored Paulus.

Switzerland’s Marc Rosset, angered by a line call, punched an advertising board and broke a bone in his hand during the championship match of the Hopman Cup team tennis championship at Perth, Australia, and had to forfeit in the final set of the decisive mixed doubles.

Goran Ivanisevic and Iva Majoli trailed Rosset and 15-year-old Martina Hingis, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 5-5, 0-30, when Olympic champion Rosset signaled that he could not continue, giving top-seeded Croatia the championship, 2-1.

Zimbabwe’s Byron Black, seeking his first pro title, and top-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia will meet today in the final of the Australian Hardcourt Championships at Adelaide, Australia.

Kafelnikov, the 1994 champion, beat Javier Frana of Argentina, 7-5, 6-1, and the eighth-seeded Black defeated Martin Damm of the Czech Republic, 7-5, 6-3, in the semifinals.

Skiing

Switzerland’s Urs Kaelin gained his first World Cup victory in more than six years, beating World Cup champion Alberto Tomba in the giant slalom at Flachau, Austria. Kaelin had a time of 2 minutes 18.68 seconds for the two runs. Tomba, sixth after the first run, finished second in 2:19.19.

Austrian Christian Rijavec won his first World Cup aerials event of the season while Veronica Brenner of Canada earned her third victory in four competitions in the Key Bank Freestyle International at Lake Placid, N.Y.

Rijavec, third on the World Cup points list last season, compiled 217.14 points. Brenner, whose best result coming into this season had been fourth, scored 160.49 points.

Kriste Porter of Greenland, N.H., the women’s World Cup overall freestyle ski champion for the last two seasons, will miss the rest of this season because of a herniated disk in her neck.

Katja Seizinger of Germany came through with a perfect second run in the giant slalom for her second victory of the World Cup season at Maribor, Slovenia. Sonja Nef of Switzerland finished second, .68 of a second behind Seizinger, with a total time of 2:14.98.

Jens Weissflog of Germany had two perfect jumps to win a World Cup ski jumping event, and capture the Four Hills tournament at Bischofshofen, Austria, for a record fourth time. The 31-year-old German had jumps of 126 1/2 meters and 122 1/2 meters to finish 14 points ahead of Norway’s Espen Bredesen.

Miscellany

The men’s marathon start at the Summer Olympics will probably be switched from early evening to early morning because of the heat in Atlanta, International Amateur Athletic Federation President Primo Nebiolo told the daily La Stampa (Rome) newspaper. He also said organizers would try to ensure the timetable allowed U.S. athletes Michael Johnson and Carl Lewis to compete in all their chosen disciplines.

The Colorado Rockies signed Manager Don Baylor, the 1995 National League Manager of the Year, to a two-year contract extension through the 1998 season.

University of Michigan offensive lineman Jon Runyan has decided to skip his final year of eligibility and enter the NFL draft, the Flint Journal reported. The 6-foot-8, 300-pound Runyan was an All-Big Ten Conference pick. . . . Ohio State football Coach John Cooper said he can prove that some Tennessee players in the Citrus Bowl wore cleats that were too long. NCAA rules limit the length of cleats to one-half inch, but Cooper told the Columbus Dispatch that some of the Volunteers used three-quarter-inch cleats. Cooper said he has one of the shoes worn in the game by Tennessee wide receiver Joey Kent. Ohio State Athletic Director Andy Geiger told the newspaper that Tennessee Athletic Director Doug Dickey said he would look into the matter.

Mark Kotsay and Brian Loyd of Cal State Fullerton, UCLA’s Troy Glaus and USC’s Jacque Jones were among 15 players invited by USA Baseball to spring camp in Millington, Tenn., beginning May 29. Tennessee infielder Augie Ojeda, from Southgate, was also invited.