BRIEFLY\No. 1 Muster stunned in opener.

Byline: Daily News Staff and Wire Services

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, better known for his doubles play, defeated Muster 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (7-0) Wednesday on a hardcourt in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The result left Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi with a chance to replace Muster atop the rankings with a tournament victory this week.

Agassi and Sampras have been battling for the No. 1 ranking for more than a year. Muster climbed above them Monday, increasing complaints that he is essentially a clay-surface player. Agassi and Sampras both are playing in the Sybase Open in San Jose, this week.

Pete Sampras, with a chance in this tournament to reclaim the No. 1 ranking, opened erratically but closed confidently in beatying Tommy Ho 6-4,6-3 in the first round of the Sybase Open in San Jose.

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 because of a muscle pull. Capriati was still in Paris and attended the Pierce match with her father. She will try to practice today and perhaps play in the Essen torunament next week.

Pierce has had a troubled time since losing in the second round of the Australian Open, a tournament she won in 1995. As high as No. 3 in the rankings last year, she dropped to No. 13 after losing in Australia.

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 in France. Kafelnikov had just returned from the tough Davis Cup loss in Italy where the Russians, finalists for the past two years, were beaten in the first round.

FOOTBALL

Felicia Moon was injured when her husband held her down by the throat to calm her after she threw a candleholder at him and kneed him in the groin, the attorney for NFL quarterback Warren Moon told jurors.

Moon's misdemeanor spousal abuse trial began with prosecutors telling the two-man, four-woman jury that the Minnesota Vikings star broke the law and must be punished despite his wife's repeated pleas not to press the case.

"He stepped out of bounds of the law. He stepped out of bounds of his home. The law was broken. The law is being enforced," prosecutor Ed Lasof said.

In the meantime, Moon has been dropped from Turner Sports' NFL and NBA broadcast teams."We notified Warren Moon and his agent in January that his services would no longer be needed on our sports programming," Turner Sports said in a statement. "His final appearance for us was on our Super Bowl coverage. We wish him well in the future."

Joe Montana is "retiring" from television broadcasting, ending one of the shortest national TV careers since "The Pat Sajak Show." Montana put in a single, un-easy nine-game season as studio commentator of NBC's "NFL on NBC" game day show, and although his credentials on the football field are impeccable, his expertise never translated to the camera. According to the network and the press release, Montana made the decision on his own.

BASEBALL

Colorado signed record-setting pinch-hitter John Vander Wal to a one-year contract, allowing the Rockies to avoid an arbitration hearing. Vander Wal, who set a major-league record last season with 28 pinch hits, was seeking a $590,000 contract after making $300,000 last season. Terms of the contract were not disclosed.

Major League Baseball announced an agreement with Japan's Central and Pacific Leagues on an umpiring exchange program for spring training.

The arrangement sends American League umpires Jim Evans and Don Denkinger and National League umpires Jerry Crawford and Charlie Williams, to work spring training games in Japan from March 16 through March 24. Four Japanese umpires will begin working Florida spring training games in split crews on March 2 at St. Petersburg and Dunedin.

ETC.

In a big upset at the U.S. Boxing Championships in Colorado Springs, Colo., David Palac of Hamtramck, Mich., scored a 10-8 decision over Fernando Vargas of Oxnard in the 147-pound division.

Meanwhile, Lance Whitaker of Granada Hills decisioned Charles Shufford of Las Vegas 20-18 in the over-201pound division.

The international swimming federation welcomed the two-year suspension of American freesytle swimmer Jessica Foschi for steroid use.

FINA director Cornel Marculescu said world-class athletes, including Foschi, must accept responsibility for any positive drug test - whether or not they took the banned substance intentionally.

"You are responsible as an athlete of high level to see that you don't take any kind of medicine or food except from those people entitled to give it to you, " Marculescu said. "It is the same responsibility you have to take with your luggage at customs. If you open the door to justifications we will always be hearing the best justifications in the world," he added.

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PHOTO

Photo Thomas Muster chases a ball hit by Sandon Stolle in the Dubai Open. Muster lost in three sets. Associated Press