Gustafsson Stops Becker in Germany

Boris Becker, likely playing in his last German Open, was ousted in the first round by Sweden’s Magnus Gustafsson, 7-5, 6-4, on Tuesday at Hamburg.

Gustafsson, 31, is a year older than Becker, who is in semiretirement and plays only selected tournaments.

“There are moments when I lose my concentration and make the wrong shot,” Becker said when asked if he had lost his sharpness by playing fewer tournaments.

Tommy Haas, one of the new crop of German players, upset Spanish clay-court specialist Carlos Moya, 6-2, 7-5.

Oliver Gross upset his fellow German Nicolas Kiefer, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1. Haas and Kiefer are the new singles players on Germany’s Davis Cup team, under Becker’s direction.

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Serena Williams was the first to eliminate a seeded player at the Italian Open in Rome, defeating No. 11 Nathalie Tauziat of France, 7-5, 6-0.

Also advancing in the first round were Serena’s sister, No. 9 Venus Williams, who powered past Yayuk Basuki of Indonesia, 6-2, 6-3, and No. 14 Anna Kournikova of Russia, who beat Virag Csurgo of Hungary, 6-0, 6-0. Kournikova has made great strides in 1998, lifting her ranking from No. 32 to 16 and reaching her first final before losing to Venus Williams at Key Biscayne, Fla., in March.

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Patrick McEnroe won his first ATP Tour match since the 1997 Australian Open with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 victory over Germany’s Christian Vinck in a first-round match of America’s Red Clay Tennis Championship in Coral Springs, Fla.

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The ninth-ranked UCLA men’s team will host a six-team NCAA Regional on May 15-17 at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.

Jurisprudence

Greg Ballard, an assistant coach for the Minnesota Timberwolves is due in a Plymouth, Minn., court again May 21 on a charge that he assaulted his wife.

Ballard was released on his own recognizance Monday when he appeared in court on a charge of fifth-degree domestic assault.

Timberwolves spokesman Jim LaBumbard said Tuesday there was no change in Ballard’s status with the team.

Pero Vasiljevic was kicked off the Kansas State basketball team after pleading guilty to drug-related charges at Manhattan, Kan., Coach Tom Asbury said.

Vasiljevic, who attended Simi Valley High, left for his home in Australia on Monday. He had served 48 hours in jail after pleading guilty Friday to possession of drug paraphernalia and obstruction of the legal process, said Barry Wilkerson of the Riley County attorney’s office.

A charge of possession of marijuana was dropped.

A libel lawsuit filed against The Times by Fresno State basketball players Chris Herren and Dominick Young in Fresno County Superior Court was dismissed Tuesday. The suit stemmed from a Column One story on March 27, 1997, by staff writer Mark Arax that detailed an FBI and federal grand jury investigation into allegations of point-shaving at Fresno State.

The case was dismissed by Judge Lawrence Jones, with prejudice--meaning the case can’t be refiled. Plaintiffs Herren and Young also must pay The Times attorneys’ fees and other costs incurred in the case. That amount is yet to be determined by Jones.

Minnesota Viking wide receiver Chris Walsh pleaded guilty to careless driving and will have to pay a $200 fine.

Hennepin County District Judge Jack Nordby in Minneapolis sentenced Walsh, who pleaded guilty by mail, to 30 days in jail and a $700 fine, but the judge stayed the jail time and the bulk of the fine provided Walsh has no alcohol-related traffic offenses or driver’s license and insurance violations in the next year.

Katherine Thrift, 33, a former chef and caretaker for Jack Kent Cooke, is suing the estate of the late Washington Redskin owner for $3 million, claiming he repeatedly made sexual comments and molested her while she lived and worked at his Virginia farm.

College Basketball

Two players who came off the bench in Utah’s drive to the NCAA championship game last season are leaving the team.

In announcing their departure, Utah officials said from Salt Lake City that junior guards David Jackson and Jordie McTavish are leaving the team to pursue other opportunities.

However, Jackson recently told the Oregonian, a paper in his hometown of Portland, just before the Final Four, that he frequently clashed with Coach Rick Majerus and that he would weigh his options at the end of the season.

Miscellany

For the second consecutive year, Georgia’s Kim Arnold, the NCAA’s all-around gymnastics champion and co-champion on the beam, was voted by NCAA schools the winner of the Honda Award as the top college athlete in her sport.

The senior from Portland, Ore., won the all-around at five meets and the beam and the floor at eight meets, including two perfect 10s in the floor exercises.

Aging legend Roberto Duran and heavyweight contender Ray Mercer, who is looking to vault into another title shot, will be on the undercard of the Evander Holyfield-Henry Akinwande championship fight in June at New York.

The 47-year-old Duran (102-13), who has held titles in four different weight classes, will fight William Joppy and hopes to add Joppy’s World Boxing Assn. middleweight title to his resume, the promoters of the Madison Square Garden card said.

Olympic gold medalist Vassily Jirov (15-0) won a 12-round unanimous decision over Richard LaMontague (19-2-1) of Everett, Mass., for the vacant WBC international cruiserweight championship in Biloxi, Miss. Jirov, from Kazakstan but fighting out of Scottsdale, Ariz., improved to 15-0.

Richard Upton, a world championship silver medalist swimmer, received a three-month suspension for testing positive for probenecid, a banned substance, in Sydney, Australia.

Dreams of luring major league baseball to the Triad were shattered when voters in North Carolina’s Guilford and Forsyth counties soundly rejected a tax proposal to help build a $210-million stadium.

Joel Heuscher, a 16-year-old boy, died of brain injuries suffered in a pole vaulting accident at Kalispell Junior High in Kalispell, Mont.

Paul Jorgensen, Heuscher’s pole vault coach, said Heuscher was vaulting with a new pole when he landed at the far end of the foam pit and rolled off. Coaches went to his aid when he did not get up.

Heuscher’s parents asked that he be removed from life support and that his organs be donated.

Defending champion Canada and Olympic gold medalist Czech Republic advanced to the second round of the World Ice Hockey Championships at Zurich, Switzerland.

Three-time world championship veteran Nelson Emerson of the Carolina Hurricanes and Todd Bertuzzi of the Vancouver Canucks each had a goal and an assist on the way to securing Canada’s 5-2 victory over Italy and the top spot of the B Group standings.