Dutch pair gather momentum

Dutch pair gather momentum

JAKARTA (JP): Dutch duo Paul Haarhuis and Jacco Eltingh progressed in leaps and bounds in their quest for the year-end ATP World Doubles Championship finals appearance in Jakarta after winning the Monte Carlo Open over the weekend.

The pairing, which triumphed in the 1993 finals in Johannesburg, earned 376 winners' points after fighting off surprised finalists Luis Lobo of Argentina and Javier Sanchez of Spain 6-3, 6-4 to rise from sixth to third in the latest ATP world doubles rankings issued on Monday.

Eltingh and Haarhuis have now collected 1,105 points to edge the Australian team of Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde into fourth place at the provisional rankings with a 41 points gap. New faces Trever Kronemann of Australia and American David Machperson dropped one place to fifth.

Sanchez and Lobo also jumped from 28th to 11th on the strength of their run in Monte Carlo.

There is no change in the top two places, with the American- Canadian pair of Grant Connell and Patrick Galbraith topping the rankings, followed by American Davis Cup regulars Jared Palmer and Richey Reneberg.

The Monte Carlo Open, one of the Super 9 tournaments played in Europe, gave Haarhuis and Eltingh their second title of the year. They won their first tournament in Philadelphia in February.

The Dutch duo, who finished 1994 as the world's number one team, were named the Doubles Team of Year during the ATP Tour awards dinner in Monte Carlo. A similar award for singles went to Pete Sampras for the second time in a row.

Jakarta will host the season ending ATP World Doubles Championship for the second year running from Nov. 21 to 26. (amd)