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Injury Forces Muster to Pull Out of Wimbledon

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From Staff and Wire Reports

Thomas Muster, angered earlier in the week at being seeded only seventh for Wimbledon when he was ranked No. 2 in the world, vowed to prove he could play on grass as well as clay.

Those plans were wrecked Thursday when Muster aggravated a thigh injury and pulled out Wimbledon.

The Austrian announced his withdrawal after hobbling through a 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 loss to Brett Steven of New Zealand at the Gerry Weber Open ATP grass-court tournament at Halle, Germany.

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Muster earlier called the seeding system “a joke,” but said his pulling out of Wimbledon had nothing to do with his seeding. It is the second year in a row Muster has pulled out because of injury.

In other matches in Halle, Jim Courier of the United States defeated a surprisingly strong 18-year-old Nicolas Kiefer of Germany, 6-3, 6-4, and Richey Reneberg needed only 45 minutes to defeat Germany’s Hendrik Dreekmann, 6-1, 6-1.

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Two British players, Tim Henman and Mark Petchey, lost in the quarterfinals of the Nottingham Open grass-court tournament in England.

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Henman lost to Jan Siemerink, the fifth-seeded player, from the Netherlands, 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (7-5), 6-1, and Petchey fell to Sandon Stolle of Australia, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3.

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Helena Sukova of the Czech Republic upset top-seeded Iva Majoli, 6-1, 6-1, in the Wilkinson Lady championships at Rosmalen, Netherlands.

Second-seeded Anke Huber became the favorite to win this Wimbledon tuneup after beating unseeded Belgian Dominique van Roost, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3).

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Judith Wiesner eliminated the last remaining Dutch player, Kristie Boogert, 6-3, 6-3, and 45th-ranked Ruxandra Dragomir of Romania ousted Latvian Larisa Neiland, 1-6, 6-3, 7-5.

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Rain washed out play at the women’s grass-court tournament at Eastbourne, England. The top three seeded players, Monica Seles, Conchita Martinez and Jana Novotna, remain in the field, along with sixth-seeded Mary Joe Fernandez.

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