Tennis
Boris Becker had to withdraw from the Dubai Open for the second successive year after having aggravated a stomach injury suffered last week in Croatia.
A year ago Becker, who beat Britain's Tim Henman in the first round earlier this week, pulled out yesterday at the same stage of the event with another injury. Felix Mantilla, the No.6 seed, advanced to the quarter-finals with a walk-over, and Becker also withdrew from the doubles, where he has been partnering Henman.
Becker felt the injury in his recent doubles win against Spaniards Alex Corretja and Javier Sanchez, and the abdominal strain failed to respond to heat treatment and massage.
''I could hit my ground strokes and run, but it was impossible to smash or to serve, so I couldn't play a proper match,'' said Becker, after having tested the injury on a practice court.
''It's very disappointing for me because I felt I had a chance of winning the tournament,'' said the German. ''Now I will return to my doctors in Munich to see how bad the injury is. I don't know how long it will take to heal. It is one of the few places I haven't had a history of injury, so I don't know what to expect.''
Thomas Muster, the defending champion, paid the price for a long break at the end of last season when he was beaten 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 by another German, Nicolas Kiefer.
Top-seed Jonas Bjorkman swept to a 4-0 lead against fellow Swede Magnus Norman, but had to save two set-points in a tie-break before gaining a 7-6 (10/8), 6-2 victory.
q Ross Matheson (Lochwinnoch) reached the quarter-final stage of the second LTA Futures Tournament in Chigwell, Essex today.
Matheson, with five good tournaments behind him already this year, overcame more than 600 places in the world rankings to beat No.322 Thierry Guardiola of France 7-6, 6-4 in the second round yesterday.
In the round of the last eight, Matheson plays top seed and world No.248 Martijn Belgraver (Holland) who won a three-set match against qualifier Colin Bennett (Hereford) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, who along with Arvind Parmar (Herts) and Jamie Delgado (Warks), went out.
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