Woodies retrieve Wimbledon

JAKARTA (JP): The Australian pair of Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge kept up the pressure for world best doubles team tag after their historic Wimbledon hat trick.

The Woodies became the second team to win Wimbledon three times in a row since the inception of professionalism in the world's oldest tennis tournament in 1968. John Newcombe and Tony Roche were the first with their consecutive victories from 1968 to 1970.

The Australians scooped 650 points to move up to second place in the latest ATP Tour Doubles rankings. They trailed the pacesetters, Jacco Eltingh and Paul Haarhuis of the Netherlands, by just 284 points.

Eight top teams in the rankings will qualify for the ATP Tour World Doubles Championship here in November, with a total of US$1.3 million in cash up for grabs.

"Todd and Mark lost in the first round at the French Open, and I know they worked very hard with their coach Ray Ruffles to make sure they were ready for Wimbledon," Russel Barlow, ATP Tour World Doubles Championship consultant said.

The Dutch pair remain at the top of the table with 2,474 points despite their upsetting loss to unseeded American pair Rick Leach and Scott Melville in the quarterfinals of the Wimbledon. Eltingh and Haarhuis were seeking a Wimbledon victory to complete the Grand Slam of major titles, following their French Open win last month.

The Americans vaulted up the rankings from 17 to 8 on the strength of their Wimbledon showing. They chalked up another giant-killing wins over eighth seeds Cyril Suk and Daniel Vacek and 14th seeds Yevgeny Kafelnokov and Marc Goellner on their way to the final.

Canadian-American combination of Grant Connell and Patrick Galbraith dropped to third from second in the provisional rankings following their first-round exit at Wimbledon. (amd)