Eight best teams prepare for ATP world double meet

JAKARTA (JP): Eight of the world's best teams are here now for the ATP World Doubles championship, with seven of them hoping to put a stop to the winning streak of title holders Paul Haarhuis and Jacco Eltingh.

Since the heyday of the super team of John McEnroe and Peter Fleming in 1978-1986, the World Doubles championship crown has always changed hands, sometimes unexpectedly.

"They deserve the number one spot and perhaps the world championship title due to their great showing this year," Todd Woodbridge said of the Dutch world number one team after an extra practice session at the Senayan indoor stadium yesterday.

Winners in 1992, Woodbridge and his Australian teammate Mark Woodbridge came closer to retaining their title in Johannesburg last year, but Eltingh and Haarhuis won the heart-stopping final.

The solid Dutch team won another head-to-head clash with the Woodies in the U.S. Open final in September.

The tennis world this year has seen both singles and doubles champions secure their number one spots just before the season ends. With Pete Sampras adding the world championship crown to his number one tag, the doubles discipline is awaiting the same result.

"I'm not sure we can defend our title. They are all 'best' teams," Haarhuis said upon arrival on Saturday. "But we will try to show that we are number one," added Eltingh. The pair romped home with eight titles this year.

Despite the number of titles, Eltingh and Haarhuis swallowed some bitter pills this year. They crashed out of the Seiko Open after their second round defeat to wild carders Stefan Edberg and Japan's Shuzo Matsuoka last month. The Dutch team were also humiliated on home soil, giving up to minnows Udo Riglewski of Germany and Italy's Diego Nargiso in Hilversum's quarterfinals in July.

Chance

All the players tried to get used to the rebound-ace surface of the stadium yesterday. Only the Dutch duo and Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman had played at the stadium, the venue for the Nov. 23-27 event.

Bjorkman also admitted that the Dutch team were the red hot favorites, but feels that he and his countryman Jan Apell, who are making their World Doubles final debut, have the same chance to walk away with the whopping winners check.

"Just wait and see," said Bjorkman yesterday. He beat Haarhuis and Eltingh three times with three different partners this year. The Swedish team also took their four titles on four different surfaces.

The Swedes are grouped with their Dutch rivals, former world number one team of Grant Connell and Patrick Galbraith and Spanish duo Sergio Casal and Emilio Sanchez in Red Group.

The Woodies lead the White Group, where Zimbabwean-American French Open doubles champions Byron Black and Jonathan Stark, Australian David Adams and Russian Andrei Olhovsky and four-time qualifiers Tom Nijssen and Cyril Suk flock together.

"Both groups have no difference. All are tough," said Woodbridge, whose last win with Woodforde in the Stockholm Open last month boosted them to the world number two spot.

The elite teams will play round-robin matches, starting tomorrow. The two best doubles of each group will advance to the cross-over semifinals on Saturday.

Organizers are scheduled to announce the draw today. They also named yesterday the world number 10 Scott Melville and Piet Norval in place of alternate team of Patrick McEnroe and Jared Palmer, who opted out of the season-ending championship. (amd)

Groups

Red Group (seeds 1, 4, 5, 8): Jacco Eltingh/Paul Haarhuis, Grant Connell/Patrick Galbraith, Jan Apell/Jonas Bjorkman, Sergio Casal/Emilio Sanchez

White Group (seeds 2, 3, 6, 7): Todd Woodbridge/Mark Woodforde, Byron Black/Jonathan Stark, David Adams/Andrei Olhovsky, Tom Nijssen/Cyril Suk