Eltingh-Haarhuis chop Woodies

HARTFORD, NOV 21: Dutchmen Jacco Eltingh and Paul Haarhuis, playing their last tournament as a team, defeated Australians Mark Woodforde and...

HARTFORD, NOV 21: Dutchmen Jacco Eltingh and Paul Haarhuis, playing their last tournament as a team, defeated Australians Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge in the final round-robin match at the $ 800,000 ATP Tour World Doubles Championship on Friday night.

Eltingh and Haarhuis, who had already clinched a spot in Saturday’s semi-finals, beat the Woodies 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 to improve to a perfect 3-0.The Dutchmen also finished their career as a team with a 9-8 edge in career meetings with Woodforde and Woodbridge, their greatest rivals.

Eltingh and Haarhuis have won 38 career doubles titles, including five Grand Slams, but will end their legendary partnership after this tournament.

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Eltingh has announced he plans to retire at the end of the year, and he and Haarhuis are trying to finish the year No 1 spot for the second time and win their second World Championship. They finished No1 in 1994 and captured the season-ending event in 1993.

The Woodies, two-time champions and two-time finalists at this event,surprisingly went winless in round-robin play in the Green Group and were out of contention for a semi-final berth.

In other round-robin play, fourth seeds Mark Knowles of the Bahamas and Daniel Nestor of Canada, finished 2-1 in the Gold Group after losing to tournament alternates Joshua Eagle and Andrew Florent of Australia, 7-6 (7-5), 6-0.

Knowles and Nestor were scheduled to play the disappointing second-seeded pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes of India. After winning six titles this year and reaching the final here last year, the Indians were winless this week and pulled out with Paes nursing a left ankle injury.

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Earlier, seventh-seeded Frenchmen Olivier Delaitre and Fabrice Santoro set up a semi-final meeting with Knowles and Nestor by outlasting the fifth-seeded duo of South Africa’s Ellis Ferreira and American Rick Leach, 7-6 (7-1), 4-6, 7-6 (7-3).