Bruguera Frustrated by Rain, Kucera

Frequent rain delays frustrated Spain’s Sergi Bruguera, but Slovakia’s Karol Kucera managed to maintain his composure and upset the fourth-seeded Bruguera, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5, on Saturday to reach the semifinals of the Mercedes Open clay-court tennis tournament at Stuttgart, Germany.

In another quarterfinal match, Albert Portas of Spain defeated countryman and 10th-seeded Felix Mantilla, 6-2, 6-4.

Organizers postponed semifinal play until today, weather permitting, with plans to hold the final later in the afternoon.

The semifinals will feature third-seeded Alex Corretja of Spain against countryman Albert Costa and Kucera against Portas.

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Suffering from a back pain, Monica Seles retired from her semifinal match against Chanda Rubin in the A&P; Tennis Classic at Mahwah, N.J.

Top-seeded Seles, the third-ranked player in the world, won the first set, 6-3, and the players were on serve with Rubin leading, 3-2, when Seles decided she couldn’t continue.

Rubin, seeded fourth and the 1995 winner, will face second-seeded Anna Kournikova in today’s final. The 16-year-old Russian beat fifth-seeded Maggie Maleeva, 6-4, 6-1, in the second semifinal.

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Petr Korda defeated David Wheaton, 6-2, 6-3, in the semifinals of the Legg Mason Classic in Washington. Korda, seeded second, will face the winner of the semifinal between top-seeded Michael Chang and 11th-seeded Brett Steven of New Zealand.

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Elena Makarova of Russia upset top-seeded and defending champion Barbara Paulus of Austria, 6-4, 7-5, to reach the finals of the WTA women’s tournament at Palermo, Sicily.

Makarova will play Sandrine Testud of France in the finals. Testud defeated third-seeded Barbara Schett of Austria, 0-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3).

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Dorothy Matthiesen of Pasadena and Trish Faulkner of West Palm Beach, Fla., defended their titles in the USTA National Senior Women’s grass court championships at the West Side Tennis Club in New York.

Matthiesen defeated Nancy Reed of Winter Park, Fla., 6-2, 6-4, for the 60-69 title. Faulkner defeated Mary McLean of Manapalan, Fla., 6-4, 7-6 (8-6), in the 50-59 year-old finals.

In the 40-49 finals, Tina Karwaski of Glendale upset Ann Etheredge of Birmingham, Ala., 6-3, 6-3.

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The semifinals of the Czech Open women’s clay-court tournament in Prague were postponed because of rain.

Pro Football

Contract negotiations between linebacker Kevin Greene and the Carolina Panthers have broken off, and the 1996 NFL sack leader was a no-show for the start of training camp in Spartanburg, S.C. Greene, entering the final year of his contract after leading the NFL with 14 1/2 sacks, is scheduled to make between $650,000 and $1.6 million. He will be fined $5,000 for each day he misses camp.

Running back Ricky Watters reported to the Philadelphia Eagles’ training camp despite threatening to sit out unless the team gave him a contract extension. Watters is in the last year of a three-year contract that will pay him $1.8 million this year. . . . Wide receiver Ike Hilliard from Florida, the seventh pick in the NFL draft, signed a six-year contract worth about $12 million with the New York Giants. . . . Defensive lineman Kendrick Burton will miss the Tennessee Oilers’ first season. The second-year player from Alabama was suspended for one year for violating the NFL’s drug policy. . . . Defensive end Dan Williams, Denver’s first-round pick in 1993, has been released by the Broncos after four injury-plagued seasons.

Miscellany

Daniel Komen of Kenya shattered the eight-minute barrier for the two-mile run and set a world record of 7 minutes 58.61 at the Hechtel Night of track in Belgium. . . . Prince Naseem Hamed of Britain stopped Juan Cabrera of Argentina at 2:17 of the second round to retain his International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Organization featherweight titles at Wembley Arena in London. Hamed, 23, improved to 27-0 with 25 knockouts. Cabrera is 24-3.