Loss in 56 Minutes Is Worst of Graf’s Career

Coming back from a knee injury, Steffi Graf of Germany suffered the worst defeat of her tennis career Friday at the hands of South African Amanda Coetzer.

Coetzer defeated Graf, the former No. 1 player, 6-0, 6-1, in 56 minutes during quarterfinals of the $927,000 German Open in Berlin.

Graf, who was off for three months before this tournament, was unable to win a game until she trailed 4-0 in the second set.

Graf, who lost her top ranking to Martina Hingis of Switzerland, had 16 forehand errors and four double faults in the first set alone.

Coetzer also beat Graf at this year’s Australian Open.

“I couldn’t keep a forehand in the court--that’s usually how you can tell I’m nervous,” Graf said.

Graf’s previous worst loss was in the 1991 French Open, a 6-0, 6-2 thrashing by Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in the semifinals.

Coetzer, ranked 10th in the world, plays Mary Pierce of France in the semifinals. Pierce needed six match points to defeat Iva Majoli of Croatia, 6-1, 6-4.

Jana Novotna also reached the semifinals, defeating Sabine Appelmans of Belgium, 1-6, 6-2, 6-0. She will play Mary Joe Fernandez, who defeated 15-year-old Russian Anna Kournikova, 6-1, 6-4.

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A new clay-court specialist mastered one of the old ones when Marcelo Rios defeated Jim Courier in a three-set thriller to reach the Italian Open semifinals in Rome.

Rios, 21, of Chile, who has risen to No. 9 in the world, made fewer mistakes and prevailed, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), in 2 1/2 hours before a packed center court at the Foro Italico.

Goran Ivanisevic also advanced to the semifinals, defeating Scott Draper of Australia, 6-4, 6-4. In other quarterfinal matches, Alex Corretja of Spain rallied to defeat Karim Alami of Morocco, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, and Alberto Berasategui of Spain edged Marc Goellner of Germany, 7-5, 7-5.

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The UCLA women were eliminated by Texas, 5-2, in the second round of the NCAA championship at Stanford.

Auto Racing

Mark Martin overtook Jimmy Vasser with nine laps remaining and held on to win the second round of the 1997 True Value Pontiac International Race of Champions series at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.

Martin, the defending IROC champion, overtook Al Unser Jr. for the series points lead. Martin, seeking to win the title for the third time in four years, has 41 points with two of the season’s four events left. Unser fell to second with 36 points and Robby Gordon is third with 24.

Bill Elliott set a qualifying record and won the pole for the Winston, NASCAR’s $1.2-million all-star race tonight.

Elliott, driving a Ford Thunderbird, posted a speed of 143.273 mph in the unique qualifying format that features three laps around Charlotte Motor Speedway and a mandatory pit stop for a two-tire change.

Johnny O’Connell, who replaced injured Scott Sharp earlier in the week, dislocated the arch of his left foot when he crashed during practice for the Indianapolis 500.

O’Connell, who was 29th in his rookie Indy 500 last year, joined the A.J. Foyt team Tuesday and had his best lap of practice at 212.922 mph shortly before his crash.

Kenny Bernstein covered the quarter-mile in a career-best elapsed time of 4.597 seconds to qualify No. 1 in top fuel at the NHRA Mopar Parts Nationals at Englishtown, N.J.

Soccer

After regulation ended in a 1-1 tie at San Jose, the New England Revolution defeated the Clash, 3-0, in a Major League Soccer shootout.

Defending MLS champion D.C. United used a last-minute goal from Tony Sanneh to draw even with touring British club Leeds United, 1-1, before 10,704 at RFK Stadium in Washington.

Boxing

South African Phillip Holiday retained his International Boxing Federation lightweight title with a split decision over Pete Taliaferro of the United States at Hammanskraal, South Africa.

Miscellany

The San Francisco 49ers’ proposal to build a $525-million stadium and mall could ruin a large portion of state parkland at Candlestick Point, according to state Sen. Quentin Kopp. Kopp, an independent representing San Francisco and San Mateo, said the 49ers and their development partners want to pave over 115 acres of the 225-acre park, primarily for stadium and mall parking.. . . Texas El Paso is appealing recent NCAA sanctions because the punishment was too harsh, according to Athletic Director John Thompson. The penalties include the loss of scholarships in football and men’s and women’s basketball, and forfeiture of some games. . . . Former Oakland Raider defensive end Nolan Harrison has signed a two-year contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers. . . . Former Wake Forest basketball coach and television commentator Bones McKinney died after suffering a stroke two weeks ago. He was 78.