World doubles final swings into full gear
World doubles final swings into full gear
JAKARTA (JP): The ATP World Doubles championship swings into
full gear today when all eight teams lock horns at the Senayan
tennis indoor stadium.
Playing in the White Group, third seeds South Africa's Byron
Black and Jonathan Stark of the U.S. set out on their long
journey to live up their dreams of winning the championship
against fellow multinational team of Australian David Adams and
Andrei Olhovskiy of Russia.
The opening day will be capped with a French Open semifinal
rematch pitting former world number one Grant Connell of Canada
and his American teammate Patrick Galbraith against Sweden's Jan
Apell and Jonas Bjorkman in the Red Group.
Tennis fans, however, are curiously waiting to seeing the
actions of world number one and defending champions Jacco Eltingh
and Paul Haarhuis. The Dutch team will have to survive a tough
test in the form of Spain's eight-time qualifiers Sergio Casal
and Emilio Casal in their Red Group opening match.
Another clash in the White Group features Wimbledon champions
and the 1992 winners Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge and four-
time qualifiers Tom Nijssen of Holland and Czech Cyril Suk.
"It is good to enter the season-ending tournament for a record
eighth time, but still it is difficult to win it," Casal
admitted. "We did not play well this year," he added.
Spanish team
The Spanish team made their best efforts by reaching the final
in 1988 and 1990. They secured the last ticket to Jakarta,
denying the hot challenge of American Peter McEnroe and Jared
Palmer.
The high-flying Dutch players have yet to meet the Spaniards
this year, but they beat each other last year.
Adams and Olhovskiy expressed a contrasting mood, saying that
they deserved the world championship title for their improving
performance this year.
"Why not? We beat six out of the seven teams who come here," a
beaming Olhovskiy said. The Australian-Russian team, who
triumphed in the Stuttgart Indoor and Kitzbuhel on their way to
securing a final berth, suffered their only loss to the Swedes.
The elite world teams will play round robin matches in the
US$1.3 million tournament played on the rebound ace court, with
top two doubles squads advancing to the cross-over semifinals on
Saturday. There will be four matches a day during the qualifying
round.
The five-day competition here is the sequence of the just
concluded ATP-sanctioned singles season-ending tournament in
Frankfurt, Germany.
Organizers have named the world number 10 team of American
Scott Melville and South African Piet Norval in place of the
alternate team of McEnroe and Palmer, who opted out of the year-
end championship. (amd)
Today's program
2.00 p.m. Black/Stark v Adams/Olhovskiy
followed by Nijssen/Suk v Woodbridge/Woodforde
7.30 p.m. Eltingh/Haarhuis v Casal/Sanchez
followed by Connell/Galbraith v Apell/Bjorkman
JAKARTA (JP): The ATP World Doubles championship swings into
full gear today when all eight teams lock horns at the Senayan
tennis indoor stadium.
Playing in the White Group, third seeds South Africa's Byron
Black and Jonathan Stark of the U.S. set out on their long
journey to live up their dreams of winning the championship
against fellow multinational team of Australian David Adams and
Andrei Olhovskiy of Russia.
The opening day will be capped with a French Open semifinal
rematch pitting former world number one Grant Connell of Canada
and his American teammate Patrick Galbraith against Sweden's Jan
Apell and Jonas Bjorkman in the Red Group.
Tennis fans, however, are curiously waiting to seeing the
actions of world number one and defending champions Jacco Eltingh
and Paul Haarhuis. The Dutch team will have to survive a tough
test in the form of Spain's eight-time qualifiers Sergio Casal
and Emilio Casal in their Red Group opening match.
Another clash in the White Group features Wimbledon champions
and the 1992 winners Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge and four-
time qualifiers Tom Nijssen of Holland and Czech Cyril Suk.
"It is good to enter the season-ending tournament for a record
eighth time, but still it is difficult to win it," Casal
admitted. "We did not play well this year," he added.
Spanish team
The Spanish team made their best efforts by reaching the final
in 1988 and 1990. They secured the last ticket to Jakarta,
denying the hot challenge of American Peter McEnroe and Jared
Palmer.
The high-flying Dutch players have yet to meet the Spaniards
this year, but they beat each other last year.
Adams and Olhovskiy expressed a contrasting mood, saying that
they deserved the world championship title for their improving
performance this year.
"Why not? We beat six out of the seven teams who come here," a
beaming Olhovskiy said. The Australian-Russian team, who
triumphed in the Stuttgart Indoor and Kitzbuhel on their way to
securing a final berth, suffered their only loss to the Swedes.
The elite world teams will play round robin matches in the
US$1.3 million tournament played on the rebound ace court, with
top two doubles squads advancing to the cross-over semifinals on
Saturday. There will be four matches a day during the qualifying
round.
The five-day competition here is the sequence of the just
concluded ATP-sanctioned singles season-ending tournament in
Frankfurt, Germany.
Organizers have named the world number 10 team of American
Scott Melville and South African Piet Norval in place of the
alternate team of McEnroe and Palmer, who opted out of the year-
end championship. (amd)
Today's program
2.00 p.m. Black/Stark v Adams/Olhovskiy
followed by Nijssen/Suk v Woodbridge/Woodforde
7.30 p.m. Eltingh/Haarhuis v Casal/Sanchez
followed by Connell/Galbraith v Apell/Bjorkman