No. 1 Muster Upset

Two days after getting a controversial No. 1 ranking, Austrian Thomas Muster was upset in the opening round of the Dubai Open by lightly regarded Australian Sandon Stolle.

The 25-year-old Stolle, son of Fred Stolle, who won the French and U.S. Opens in the mid-1960s and is now a commentator, defeated Muster 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (7-0) on a hardcourt.

The result left both Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi with a chance to replace Muster atop the rankings with a tournament victory this week.

Fourth-seeded Mary Pierce, plagued by a lower back injury, lost to Germany’s Petra Begerow 7-5, 7-5 at the Paris Open as the tournament resumed its normal pace after the withdrawal of Jennifer Capriati the previous night due to a muscle pull.

At Marseille, France, top-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov was beaten 6-4, 6-4 by Slava Dosedil of the Czech Republic in the first round of the $514,000 Marseille Open.