Paes, Bhupati bid for glory
The top-seeded pair of Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge (Australia) head a strong field of eight teams in the $500,000 ATP World Doubles Championship, beginning Wednesday in Hartford.
The Woodies are ranked number one for the third straight year, having taken five titles (including two Grand Slams to make an all time record haul of nine Slam titles) in 1997. In fact, their fifth straight
Wimbledon title is another in a growing collection of records.
The Woodies go in as defending champions, and are making their seventh straight appearance in the season ending tournament -- another record, tying with that of Peter Fleming
and John McEnroe (1978-1984).
Their biggest threat comes from second seeded Dutch pair Jacco Eltingh and Paul Haarhuis, in the tournament for the fifth straight time. This pair in fact beat the Woodies in the final in 1993. The Woodies, however, lead the Dutch pair 8 wins to 6 in all career appearances till date.
Seeded third are Ellis Ferreira of South Africa and Patrick Galbraith of the US, who have in their first full season as a partnership bagged five doubles titles and reached the final of two other events. Galbraith is the more experienced, having won the title in 1995 in tandem with Grant Connell, while Ferreira is debuting at the prestigious tournament.
In the number four slot are Americans Rick Leach and Jonathan Stark, both of whom have appeared with other partners before. Leach in fact won in 1988 in tandem with Jim Pugh. Leach-Stark pair, however, have gone winless in five finals this season.
The dark horses, by universal acclaim, are the Indian pair of Mahesh
Bhupathi and Leander Paes. In their second full year on the circuit, the duo have taken six ATP doubles titles, besides two others on the Challenger circuit. Ranked sixth in the world -- they are already the first Indian pair to be ranked in the world's top ten -- the two had in fact hit a high of number four a month ago, before non-appearances at some tournaments saw the others pushing them down the ladder.
Sixth seeds Sebastien Lareau of Canada and American Alex O'Brien
were losing finalists last year, going down to the Woodies in four sets. This time round, the pair have two titles and three final appearances to their credit.
Mark Knowles of the Bahamas and Canada's Daniel Nestor, the
seventh seeds, will be making their third straight appearance at
the year-ending event. Two titles this season take their tally to eight overall, and they have, besides, two final appearances to their credit this year. However, their seventh place is a comedown considering they were ranked third last year.
Eighth-seeded Americans Donald Johnson and Francisco Montana
are debuting in the tournament, thanks to a good year that saw them take the Monte Carlo title, beating three top-10 teams in the process, and also reach the final of two other tournaments.
The "Woodies", Leach and Stark, Lareau and O'Brien and Johnson
and Montana comprise the Green Group, while Eltingh and
Haarhuis, Ferreira and Galbraith, Bhupathi and Paes and Knowles
and Nestor make up the Yellow Group.
The four teams with the
best record in the round robin will advance to the semifinals.
On Wednesday, the "Woodies" will face
Johnson and Montana; Eltingh and Haarhuis will meet Knowles and
Nestor; Ferreira and Galbraith will take on Bhupathi and Paes;
and Leach and Stark will battle Lareau and O'Brien.
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