Hopman Cup Handed To Croatia

A fit of anger likely cost Switzerland the title in the Hopman Cup team tennis championship at Perth, Australia.

Swiss star Marc Rosset suffered a possible fracture in his right hand punching an advertising board at the back of the court and had to forfeit in the final set of the decisive mixed doubles, giving Croatia the championship.

Goran Ivanisevic and Iva Majoli trailed Rosset and 15-year-old Martina Hingis 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 5-5, 0-30 when Olympic champion Rosset signalled that he could not continue.

He had slammed his hand into the sign in the previous game after the Swiss pair failed to convert four championship points at 4-5 on Ivanisevic’s serve. He had been angered by a controversial line call on the second championship point.

“I know I shouldn’t have done that,” Rosset said. “It’s hard to explain how sorry I feel, but sometimes it’s tough to control yourself.”

At Doha, Qatar, French Open champion Thomas Muster suffered a stunning upset in the semifinals of the $635,000 Qatar Open tennis tournament, losing to unheralded Younes el Aynaoui of Morocco.

El Aynaoui, ranked 110th in the world, defeated the Austrian No. 1 seed 6-4, 6-4.

El Aynaoui will play Petr Korda of the Czech Republic in today’s final. Korda defeated David Prinosil of Germany 6-7 (4-7), 6-1, 6-3 in the other semifinal.