Dutch duo surge ahead on ATP tour

JAKARTA (JP): The solid Dutch pair of Jacco Eltingh and Paul Haarhuis have assured themselves of the top spot on the ATP Tour World Doubles rankings to be issued tomorrow.

Eltingh and Haarhuis have reached the French Open final as the lone top seeded survivors at the grueling two-week clay court championships. They secured 390 additional ranking points with their 6-3, 6-0 drubbing of the American-New Zealand team of Tommy Ho and Brett Steven in the semifinals.

The points are adequate to oust the Australian duo Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde from the top place, opening up the race on the road to Jakarta for the ATP World Doubles championship.

The Woodies, top seeds in Paris, made an early exit as all but one top teams found Rolland Garros their graveyard. The Woodies' first round defeat to Italy's Christian Brandi and Belgian Libor Pimek was particularly shocking as the Australians had won their last three tournaments together prior to the French Open.

Defending champions Byron Black of Zimbabwe and Jonathan Stark of the U.S. crashed out of the second round to the eventual Swedish finalists Nicklas Kulti and Magnus Larsson.

Also bundled out of the French Open opening rounds were third seeds Grant Connell of Canada and American Patrick Galbraith and last year's finalists Jan Apell and Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden.

The fight for pivotal points on the road to Jakarta will resume at the Wimbledon championships in two week's time, when the Woodies will defend their title.

Jakarta will play host to the world doubles season-ending tournament for the second year running. (amd)