Tennis: Kafelnikov out of Qatar Open

Top seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov crashed out of the $US1 million ($2.34 million) Qatar Open tennis tournament yesterday, losing 7-5, 6-4 to former champion Rainer Schuettler, of Germany, in the quarter-finals.

The Russian's exit follows Thursday's defeat of No 2 seed Goran Ivanisevic, robbing the tournament of much of its gloss.

In other quarter-finals, fifth-seed Bohdan Ulihrach, of the Czech Republic, beat Fernando Vicente, of Spain, 6-1, 6-1 to set up a semifinal with eighth-seeded Spaniard Felix Mantilla, a 6-3, 6-3 winner over Czech Radek Stepanek, conqueror of Ivanisevic.

Schuettler will play sixth-seeded Younes El Aynaoui, of Morocco, who beat fourth-seed Jiri Novak, of the Czech Republic, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4.