Fifth doubles qualify for World Doubles final<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Russian Andrei Olhovsky and his Australian
\npartner David Adams have assured themselves of tickets to the
\nAssociation of Tennis Professionals (ATP) World Doubles
\nchampionship final here next month.<\/p>\n
Olhovsky and Adams became the fifth doubles to qualify for the
\nNov. 23-30 season-ending tournament after reaching the finals at
\nthe Salem Open in Beijing last week. The pair, seeded number one,
\nlost to the new combination of Tommy Ho and Kent Kinnear 6-7 (7-
\n9), 3-6, but raised their point ranking to 2,047.<\/p>\n
The ATP fifth ranked duo, who will make their second
\nappearance at the World Doubles final, join the Dutch world
\nnumber one team, Paul Haarhuis and Jacco Eltingh, the "Woodies",
\nAustralia's Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde, newcomers Byron
\nBlack of South Africa and Jonathan Stark of the U.S. and the 1993
\nworld's top pair Grant Connell and Patrick Galbraith to fill the
\nline up for world's elite group of eight.<\/p>\n
With just three weeks remaining, seven pairs are chasing the
\nlast three spots. Four of the seven teams in contention for the
\nspots are playing in the Stockholm Open, which gets underway this
\nweek.<\/p>\n
Top Swedish doubles Jan Apell and Jonas Bjorkman, currently
\nnumber six, remain the leading contenders for the sixth
\nqualifying spot with 1,796 points.<\/p>\n
The eight teams will be vying for the winner's point ranking
\nof 640 and a whopping US$225,000 top prize money. This year's
\nnumber one pair will also earn $180,000 in cash bonuses.<\/p>\n
The qualifying teams will be divided into two groups of four
\nteams. They will play round-robin matches, with the two top pairs
\nadvancing to the cross-over semifinals.<\/p>\n
ATP has set the first group to be made up of the number one,
\nfour, five and eight teams in the world according to ATP rankings
\non Nov. 14. The other division groups world number two, three,
\nsix and seven.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has been named host for the World Doubles final for
\ntwo successive editions in place of South Africa, the host for
\nthe previous 10 finals, because of political stability reasons.
\nIndonesia will tentatively extend the contract with ATP for
\nanother three years.<\/p>\n
Fahmi Alatas of TPI (Televisi Pendidikan Indonesia), the
\nprivate television station which holds the broadcasting rights,
\nsaid yesterday 700 million people from 80 countries will watch
\nthe year-end tournament through 40 TV stations overseas.<\/p>\n
"We will not take a broadcasting fee from foreign stations in
\nthe first two years. We will consider doing that if we extend the
\ndeal for the next three years," Fahmi said.<\/p>\n
The contract, signed by TPI and ATP, is worth US$1.75 million
\nper annum for the first two years. This amount will increase if
\nboth parties agree to the next three-year deal. (amd)<\/p>",
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