Title holders win opener at World Doubles<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Defending champions Paul Haarhuis and Jacco
\nEltingh of the Netherlands entertained a small but lively crowd
\nat the Senayan Indoor stadium with an opening win over Spanish
\nteam of Sergio Casal and Emilio Sanchez in the ATP World Doubles
\nfinals yesterday.<\/p>\n
Playing in the Red Group before cheering fans, the Dutch team
\nsurvived a tight second set on course to a 6-3, 7-6 (7-3)
\nvictory. They now look forward to another win to secure their
\nberth to the semifinals.<\/p>\n
They will have to face another thriller as they play Canadian-
\nAmerican duo of Grant Connell and Patrick Galbraith who outlasted
\nSweden's Davis Cuppers Jan Apell and Jonas Bjorkman with the same
\nscore 6-3, 7-6 (7-1) later yesterday.<\/p>\n
The match pitting the Dutch hard court specialists against the
\nSpanish clay court experts was long awaited since both pairs had
\navoided meeting each other this year.<\/p>\n
The top seeds, who racked up eight titles on the road to
\narriving here, displayed a masterful serve and volley game
\nagainst their Spanish rivals who struggled to capitalize on the
\nfast surface of the court. It took the big serving Dutchmen only
\n20 minutes to seal the first set, thanks to Casal's broken serve
\nin the fourth game.<\/p>\n
But the second set was a far different story. The smart idea
\nof making as many as possible approach efforts to the net helped
\nCasal and Sanchez save their serves, while both Eltingh and
\nHaarhuis tallied their netted service returns.<\/p>\n
A number of acrobatic clashes around the net, which received
\nwarm applause from the around 500 spectators, highlighted the
\nmatch.<\/p>\n
Then the Spaniards found their hopes of winning the set nose-
\ndive, following a bad call over Sanchez's serve in the tiebreak
\nopener.<\/p>\n
\"It was a close match and we have no complaint about how we
\nplayed,\" said Sanchez, who was clearly a trace upset over the
\ncall, during the press conference after the match.<\/p>\n
Both Haarhuis and Eltingh backed the umpire's decision to
\noverrule the line call, but said it did not have anything to do
\nwith their performance.<\/p>\n
The world number one team who took most of their eight titles
\non hard court and in indoor tournaments, believed the victory
\nopened up their chances to retain their trophy.<\/p>\n
Woodies win<\/p>\n
In the White Group match earlier yesterday, Australian second
\nseeds Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde got off to a comfortable
\nstart toward regaining the crown, beating the Dutch-Czech
\ncombination of Tom Nijssen and Cyril Suk in straight sets 6-2, 6-
\n4.<\/p>\n
\"We could play better actually. In some ways, however, we had
\nformed a solid partnership during the match,\" said Woodforde, who
\nshared the glory with Woodbridge two years ago in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n
The \"Woodies\" wasted only an hour to stop the multinational
\nteam who looked to have trouble with their second serves.
\nWoodbridge poured down his big serves to keep his team in charge,
\nas Nijssen and Suk, who are making their fourth appearance at the
\nseason-ending tournament, could not match the power of play.<\/p>\n
A nervous Nijssen broke his own serve at the opening game,
\nbefore Suk added another break in the third to allow the
\nAustralians a 3-0 lead.<\/p>\n
Suk crashed to a crucial broken serve in the seventh game of
\nthe second set, and the Woodies' victory was just a matter of
\ntime.<\/p>\n
Another White Group match, which opened the four-day round-
\nrobin tournament yesterday, saw sixth seeds David Adams and
\nAndrei Olhovskiy come from behind to upset third seeds Byron
\nBlack and Jonathan Stark 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5).<\/p>\n
\"We were not warm enough in the opening set, until we found
\nour form halfway to the second set,\" Adams said. The Australian-
\nRussian pair squandered their 5-3 lead in the deciding set while
\nOlhovskiy holding his serve.<\/p>\n
Today's program<\/p>\n
2.00 p.m.
\n Black\/Stark v Nijssen\/Suk
\n Adams\/Olhovskiy v Woodbridge\/Woodforde<\/p>\n
7.30 p.m.
\n Eltingh\/Haarhuis v Connell\/Galbraith
\n Sanchez\/Casal v Apell\/Bjorkman<\/p>",
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