World doubles final swings into full gear<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The ATP World Doubles championship swings into
\nfull gear today when all eight teams lock horns at the Senayan
\ntennis indoor stadium.<\/p>\n
Playing in the White Group, third seeds South Africa's Byron
\nBlack and Jonathan Stark of the U.S. set out on their long
\njourney to live up their dreams of winning the championship
\nagainst fellow multinational team of Australian David Adams and
\nAndrei Olhovskiy of Russia.<\/p>\n
The opening day will be capped with a French Open semifinal
\nrematch pitting former world number one Grant Connell of Canada
\nand his American teammate Patrick Galbraith against Sweden's Jan
\nApell and Jonas Bjorkman in the Red Group.<\/p>\n
Tennis fans, however, are curiously waiting to seeing the
\nactions of world number one and defending champions Jacco Eltingh
\nand Paul Haarhuis. The Dutch team will have to survive a tough
\ntest in the form of Spain's eight-time qualifiers Sergio Casal
\nand Emilio Casal in their Red Group opening match.<\/p>\n
Another clash in the White Group features Wimbledon champions
\nand the 1992 winners Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge and four-
\ntime qualifiers Tom Nijssen of Holland and Czech Cyril Suk.<\/p>\n
\"It is good to enter the season-ending tournament for a record
\neighth time, but still it is difficult to win it,\" Casal
\nadmitted. \"We did not play well this year,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Spanish team<\/p>\n
The Spanish team made their best efforts by reaching the final
\nin 1988 and 1990. They secured the last ticket to Jakarta,
\ndenying the hot challenge of American Peter McEnroe and Jared
\nPalmer.<\/p>\n
The high-flying Dutch players have yet to meet the Spaniards
\nthis year, but they beat each other last year.<\/p>\n
Adams and Olhovskiy expressed a contrasting mood, saying that
\nthey deserved the world championship title for their improving
\nperformance this year.<\/p>\n
\"Why not? We beat six out of the seven teams who come here,\" a
\nbeaming Olhovskiy said. The Australian-Russian team, who
\ntriumphed in the Stuttgart Indoor and Kitzbuhel on their way to
\nsecuring a final berth, suffered their only loss to the Swedes.<\/p>\n
The elite world teams will play round robin matches in the
\nUS$1.3 million tournament played on the rebound ace court, with
\ntop two doubles squads advancing to the cross-over semifinals on
\nSaturday. There will be four matches a day during the qualifying
\nround.<\/p>\n
The five-day competition here is the sequence of the just
\nconcluded ATP-sanctioned singles season-ending tournament in
\nFrankfurt, Germany.<\/p>\n
Organizers have named the world number 10 team of American
\nScott Melville and South African Piet Norval in place of the
\nalternate team of McEnroe and Palmer, who opted out of the year-
\nend championship. (amd)<\/p>\n
Today's program
\n 2.00 p.m. Black\/Stark v Adams\/Olhovskiy
\n followed by Nijssen\/Suk v Woodbridge\/Woodforde
\n 7.30 p.m. Eltingh\/Haarhuis v Casal\/Sanchez
\n followed by Connell\/Galbraith v Apell\/Bjorkman<\/p>",
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