Haarhuis, Eltingh finish 1994 as world number one
JAKARTA (JP): The Dutch doubles team of Paul Haarhuis and Jacco Eltingh will no doubt finish this year as the world number one pair, despite still having the last tournament, the World Doubles championship final to play here next week.
Haarhuis and Eltingh guaranteed their number one spot after winning their eighth title of the year in the Kremlin Cup in Moscow on Sunday, earning them an assailable lead of 4,315 points in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) rankings.
They successfully defended their title in Moscow without breaking a sweat after David Adams, who should have teamed up with Andrei Olhovsky in the final, came down with the flu. Both pairs have qualified for the eight-field final showdown here.
An exhibition match was staged before the packed stadium, with the Russian team of Olhovsky and Andrei Merinov outlasting the newly crowned world number one in three sets.
Eltingh and Haarhuis are now chasing a double ending at the Nov. 23-27 World Doubles final. They captured the title in their debut last year in Johannesburg, South Africa, while the American-Canadian pair of Grant Connell and Patrick Galbraith sealed that year as world number one.
The Swedish duo of Jan Apell and Jonas Bjorkman was another established team who earned a confidence booster prior to their entrance here by winning the European Community championships crown in Antwerp.
Apell and Bjorkman, the fifth team to qualify for the season- ending tournament, stormed to their fourth title of the year with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 win over the first time pair of Hendrik-Jan Davis and Sebastian Lareu, the upset first round conqueror of Germany's Michael Stich in the singles event.
The Swedes are likely to finish fifth this year even if they manage to triumph in the World Doubles final. They trail more than 800 points behind the current number four pair of Connell and Galbraith, while the year-end championship has a maximum of 650 points up for grabs.
Upset
Spain's Sergio Casal and Emilio Sanchez produced the biggest upset last week as they cruised to a record-breaking eighth appearance in the World Doubles final at the interest of American duo of Patrick McEnroe and Jared Palmer.
The Spaniards won the all important title in Buenos Aires to clinch the last spot by defeating countrymen Tomas Carbonell and Francisco Roig 6-3, 6-2. Their American rivals, who needed only to reach the second round in Antwerp, crashed to the eventual champions Apell and Bjorkman in their first round encounter.
It was the second title of the year for Casal and Sanchez, who won in Gstaad, Sweden last July. The victory on Sunday gave them 1,476 points, just five points ahead of McEnroe and Palmer.
The previous record of seven appearances was held by American John McEnroe and Peter Fleming, who won all of their seven final matches.
Casal and Sanchez reached the final of the year-end tournament twice in 1988, when they lost to Rick Leach and Jim Pugh of the U.S., and in 1990, when they were beaten by the French-Swiss pair of Guy Forget and Jakob Hlasek.
The Spaniards will join the Red Group with Eltingh and Haarhuis, Connell and Galbraith, and Apell and Bjorkman in their round robin matches.
The White Group comprises the Woodies of Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde of Australia, South African Byron Black and American Jonathan Stark, Adams and Olhovsky, and the Dutch-Czech team of Tom Nijssen and Cyril Suk. (amd)