Injury Forces Muster to Pull Out of Wimbledon

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.

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.

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).

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.