Hass in final as injuries take toll

“I did not realise he was injured but he told me he had a pulled muscle,” said Haas, who meets Spain’s Alex Corretja in today’s final.

Back problems had forced Sampras out of his quarter-final against the German.

US Open champion Pat Rafter also looked like he had knee trouble when he lost his quarter-final against South African Wayne Ferreira.

As a result, the fight for top spot at the end of the season might depend mainly on the health of the three players still in contention.

Sampras, Rafter and Rios have four major tournaments — Stuttgart, Paris, Stockholm and Moscow — to play beforethe ATP Tour finals in Hannover.Fourth-seeded Corretja, a French Open finalist, cruised into his first indoor final 6-3 6-2 against a weary-looking Ferreira.

Should he win today, the Spaniard would qualify for the ATP Tour finals.

Qualifier in final

OSTRAVA: Qualifer Jan Kroslak of Slovakia reached his first ATP Tour final.

His seventh-seeded opponent Thomas Enqvist retired with a ankle injury in the opening set of their 1 million-dollar Czech indoor tournament semifinal.Andre Agassi beat Zimbabwe’s Wayne Black 7-6, 6-3 in the other semifinal and left the home crowd torn between their admiration for the American and their hopes for a former native son.

McEnroe supreme

MELBOURNE: John McEnroe stayed top of the seniors tennis standings today with a comfortable victory over Johan Kriek in the final of the Melbourne tournament.

McEnroe added the Melbourne Park event to his win in Sydney a week earlier when he overpowered South African-born Kriek in straight sets 7-5, 6-3.McEnroeextended his winning record over Kriek to 21-7, which includes 12-5 on the ATP Tour and 9-2 on the seniors circuit. Kriek was playing in his 20th final but slumped to a 2-18 record.

“You not only have to be good to win but you also have to be lucky and I got lucky today,” McEnroe said.

Top 3 nurse injuries

STUTTGART: Pete Sampras, Marcelo Rios and Patrick Rafter are all facing injury worries heading into tomorrow’s start of the 2.45 million dollar Eurocard Open.

The penultimate Mercedes Super 9 event of the year is a key venue in the battle for places into the eight-man field at the ATP Tour World Championships in Hanover next month.

But the top three players in the world all have more pressing fitness matters on their minds after already qualifying for Hanover.

Sampras is being forced to spend what for the American seems like an eternity in cold, damp Europe this autumn.

When an early exit at the US Open and a loss in Basel last month put his year-end top ranking in danger, hereluctantly boarded a Concorde for the flight to Europe to play for more computer points.The move paid some dividends with a title last week in Vienna thanks in no small part to the gift of a wild card from Boris Becker, no longer a full-time professional.